The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has said it deeply regrets the important role that many of its early directors played in the slave trade in the 19th century, an independent investigation into the bank's early years has revealed.

The Dutch were involved in global slavery from the 17th century until the transatlantic slave trade was abolished by the Netherlands in 1814 when the DNB was founded.

The investigation showed that the majority of the Amsterdam financial elite who provided the start-up capital for the bank were directly involved in the slave trade.

DNB played an active role in the preservation of slavery. More than others at the time, the directors of the DNB were personally and politically involved in colonial slavery, said central bank governor at the presentation of the report.

Eleven of the original 17 private investors either owned plantations in overseas colonies in the Caribbean and South America where slaves were forced to work, financed these plantations, or traded in commodities produced there, such as sugar, coffee, cotton, and tobacco.

The investigation also revealed that the directors of the DNB actively campaigned against the abolition of slavery, despite the rising tide of resistance in the Netherlands, and for compensation to slave owners.

Three of the six directors of the DNB were themselves compensated when slavery was finally abolished in the Netherlands in 1863.

The central bank will try to establish whether an apology or some kind of compensation will be justified.