Nikolai de Koning

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Nikolai de Koning is a financial services lawyer (advocaat) based in Amsterdam. Nikolai is experienced in financial services and banking law, as well as in data privacy (protection). He is experienced in advising on regulatory and compliance aspects relevant to financial institutions, such as insurance companies, investment firms, clearing institutions and central counterparties. Nikolai also advises on Dutch licence and notification requirements and he assists companies in their licence or notification processes with the Dutch financial regulators. He also specialises in privacy issues arising out of online products, data protection and e-commerce.

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FATF’s Mutual Evaluation Report of the Netherlands 2022 published

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Money laundering, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 24 August 2022, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its mutual evaluation report titled ‘Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures – The Netherlands’ (the Report). The Report summarises the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) measures in place in the Netherlands as at the date of the FATF’s on-site visit between 27 October … Continue Reading

DNB consultation of Q&A on retention bonuses

By Nikolai de Koning and Floortje Nagelkerke (NL) on Posted in DNB/AFM, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has launched a public consultation on a Q&A regarding retention bonuses (retentievergoedingen) within the meaning of Article 1:122 of the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht, the AFS). In this Q&A DNB provides guidance on when DNB’s prior consent is required for a … Continue Reading

DNB to investigate effectiveness of sanctions screening tools this fall

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Banking, DNB/AFM, Payment services, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has announced that it will be starting an investigation into the effectiveness of the sanctions screening tools of banks and payment institutions. Given the global developments around sanctions, and in addition to DNB’s on-going investigation into compliance with Dutch sanctions legislation (primarily focusing on the administrative organisation … Continue Reading

Public consultation on changes to the Suitability Policy Rule 2012

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 15 July 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published for public consultation a draft Decree amending the Suitability Policy Rule 2012 (Besluit tot wijziging van de Beleidsregel Geschiktheid 2012, the Amendment Decree). The Suitability Policy Rule 2012 (Beleidsregel Geschiktheid 2012) clarifies what the AFM … Continue Reading

ECB speech at the use of AI to fight financial crime conference

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in France, Germany, Italy, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, The Netherlands, United Kingdom
On 13 July 2022, Elizabeth McCaul, Member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) delivered a speech at the conference on “The use of artificial intelligence to fight financial crime”. Key points in the speech include: Deficiencies in a bank’s anti-money laundering / countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework are often … Continue Reading

DNB and AFM on risk committee and remuneration committee for investment firms

By Nikolai de Koning and Julia van der Grint on Posted in DNB/AFM, Investment firms, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 5 July 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) and the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) jointly published a news article on the obligation for certain investment firms to establish a risk committee and a remuneration committee. Risk committee The Investment Firms Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/2034, IFD) … Continue Reading

DNB publishes amendments to Regulation specific provisions CRD and CRR 2019 for public consultation

By Nikolai de Koning and Julia van der Grint on Posted in Banking, DNB/AFM, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 24 June 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published the Amendment Regulation specific provisions CRD and CRR 2019 (Wijzigingsregeling Regeling specifieke bepalingen CRD en CRR 2019, the Amendment Regulation) for public consultation. The Fourth Capital Requirements Directive (CRD4) and the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) have recently been amended. These amendments, also … Continue Reading

Amendment Act on the recovery and resolution of insurers published for public consultation

By Nikolai de Koning and Julia van der Grint on Posted in Insurance, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 19 May 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) published for public consultation a draft legislative proposal of the Amendment Act on the recovery and resolution of insurers (Wijzigingswet herstel en afwikkeling van verzekeraars, the Amendment Act). As also indicated in the legislative letter of the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) … Continue Reading

Decree Implementing UBO register for trusts and similar legal arrangements published in Dutch Government Gazette

By Nikolai de Koning and Julia van der Grint on Posted in Collective investment schemes, General, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 2 May 2022, the Implementation decree concerning the registration of beneficial owners of trusts and similar legal arrangements (Implementatiebesluit registratie uiteindelijk belanghebbenden van trusts en soortgelijke juridische constructies, the Implementation Decree) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatsblad). The Implementation Decree, together with the Implementation act concerning the registration of beneficial owners of trusts and … Continue Reading

Dutch Minister of Finance announces enforcement of UBO registration obligation

By Floortje Nagelkerke (NL) and Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Enforcement, General, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands, Uncategorized
On 14 April 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) in which it is announced that the enforcement of the statutory obligation to register ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) in the Dutch UBO register will commence. The Dutch UBO register for most types of Dutch legal … Continue Reading

Consultation on the Amendment Act Financial Markets 2024

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Investment firms, Market abuse, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 29 April 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation the draft legislative proposal for the Amendment Act Financial Markets 2024 (Wijzigingswet financiële markten 2024, the Amendment Act 2024). This legislative proposal is part of an annual cycle of changes to the legislation relevant to the Dutch financial markets. Changes that are part … Continue Reading

Annual integrity risk reporting to DNB

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, Money laundering, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
Each year the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) investigates the inherent integrity risks of money laundering, financing of terrorism and corruption faced by financial institutions, as well as the measures taken by financial institutions to mitigate such risks. For this purpose, DNB has been requesting financial institutions to complete its questionnaire on integrity … Continue Reading

AFM identifies shortcomings in online brokerage advertising

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, Enforcement, Investment firms, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 12 April 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of its investigation into advertisements (reclame-uitingen) of investment firms. For its investigation, the AFM reviewed advertisements of four investment firms in the fall of 2021. Each advertisement needs to independently comply with the applicable requirements. A … Continue Reading

Public consultation of Decree implementing Delegated Directives regarding integration of sustainability factors and risks

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Collective investment schemes, ESG, Investment firms, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 21 March 2022, the Decree implementing Commission Delegated Directives (EU) 2021/169 and 2021/1270 (Besluit implementatie gedelegeerde richtlijnen (EU) 2021/1269 en 2021/1270, the Implementation Decree) was published for public consultation by the Dutch Minster of Finance. Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2021/1270 amends Commission Delegated Directive 2010/43/EU thereby imposing obligations on management companies of Undertakings for Collective Investment in … Continue Reading

AFM special publication on sustainability transition

By Nikolai de Koning and Floortje Nagelkerke (NL) on Posted in DNB/AFM, ESG, The Netherlands
On 28 February 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a special publication containing the key take-aways from its round table meetings that took place on 24 January and 10 February 2022. The key topic of these round table meetings was transparency about the impact companies have on … Continue Reading

DNB consults good practices ESG risk management for pension funds

By Nikolai de Koning and Floortje Nagelkerke (NL) on Posted in DNB/AFM, ESG, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 28 February 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published for public consultation a good practices document covering environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk management for pension funds (the Good Practices Document). With the Good Practices Document, DNB aims to provide guidance to pension funds for the organisation of their risk management … Continue Reading

Regulation Around the World Podcast – Crypto asset regulation

By Simon Lovegrove (UK), Etelka Bogardi (HK), Jeremy Wickens, Glen Barrentine (US), Albert Weatherill (UK) and Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Seminars, webinars and podcasts, United Kingdom
The first instalment in our new monthly podcast series, Regulation Around the World, is available now to stream and download. In Regulation Around the World we take a hot topic in financial services and apply a global lens, examining key developments in different jurisdictions. In this month’s episode, in line with our financial services team’s … Continue Reading

The AFM examines quality of order execution on PFOF trading venues

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, Investment firms, Regulation and compliance, Securities/Capital markets, The Netherlands
On 9 February 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of a study into the quality of order execution on payment for order flow (PFOF) trading venues. The report containing the AFM’s findings is titled ‘Assessing the quality of executions on trading venues: The “Comparative Pricing … Continue Reading

AFM introduces procedure for simplified settling of administrative fines

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, Enforcement, The Netherlands
On 18 January 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a procedure for settling administrative fines in a simplified manner (the Procedure). The AFM will be able to provide offenders with the opportunity to settle an administrative fine imposed by the AFM in a simplified manner. If the … Continue Reading

AFM publishes its supervision agenda for 2022

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 13 January 2021, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published its supervision agenda for 2022 (the AFM Agenda 2022). The AFM Agenda 2022 follows on and links specific actions and priorities to trends and risks listed in the AFM’s Trend Monitor 2022 (Trendzicht 2022), the AFM’s annual analysis … Continue Reading

AFM reminds ‘finfluencers’ of the applicable rules

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Digital finance, DNB/AFM, Regulation and compliance, Retail, The Netherlands
On 20 December 2021, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a report with the results of an exploratory study into investor protection requirements relating to social media posts titled “The pitfalls of ‘finfluencing’” (the Report). The Report is based on an exploratory study carried out by the AFM … Continue Reading

DNB publishes its supervisory plans for 2022

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands
On 7 December 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published an updated version of its plan ‘Vision on Supervision’ (Visie op Toezicht) (the Plan). The Plan sets out the supervisory topics that DNB will be spearheading until 2024 (building on some topics which were included in the previous version) and provides insight … Continue Reading

DNB: financial sector must better account for sustainability risks

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in DNB/AFM, ESG, The Netherlands
On 7 December 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item in which it indicates that banks, insurers and pension funds must better account for sustainability risks. This follows on DNB’s press conference during which they, among other things, presented the result of their new study ‘Towards a sustainable balance’ … Continue Reading

Amendment Decree Financial Markets 2021 submitted to Dutch Parliament and Dutch Senate

By Nikolai de Koning on Posted in Regulation and compliance, Retail, The Netherlands
On 24  November 2021, the Dutch Minister of Finance submitted the Amendment Decree Financial Markets 2021 (Wijzigingsbesluit financiële markten 2021, the Amendment Decree 2021) to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) and the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer). The Amendment Decree 2021 is part of an annual cycle of amendments to the laws and regulations relevant to … Continue Reading
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