On 10 December 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) issued a press release in which it concludes that the investment firms which were part of the AFM’s investigation in 2018 and 2019 need to make improvements in the field of costs transparency, product governance and commissions (provisies). A total of ten investment firms were included in the AFM’s investigation.

The investigation report attached to the press release (which is unfortunately only available in Dutch) sets out the background and scope of the AFM’s investigation, the results for each of the aforementioned fields, and a number of observations together with concrete tools for improvement.

The AFM concludes its press release by emphasising that MiFID II compliance remains a point of focus for the AFM. The AFM expects all investment firms to use the tools offered in the investigation report to test their practices and implement improvements where necessary.

View the press release (Dutch only), 10 December 2019.

View the investigation report (Dutch only), 10 December 2019.