On 24 November 2015, the Amendment Act Financial Markets 2016 (Wijzigingswet financiële markten 2016, the Amendment Act) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatscourant).

The Amendment Act is part of an annual cycle of amendments to the Dutch financial markets legislation, including the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht), the Financial Supervision Funding Act (Wet bekostiging financieel toezicht) and the Dutch Securities Giro Act (Wet giraal effectenverkeer). These amendments include, amongst other things, improvements to the protections given to investors in derivatives against the bankruptcy of their intermediary, granting the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten) powers to withdraw a regulated institution’s licence if it does not pay the levies for financial supervision, and claims by third parties against a financial institution in distress can be expropriated by the Dutch Minister of Finance in the event of intervention.

The date of entry into force will be set by means of a Royal Decree. It was expected that the Amendment Act would enter into force on 1 January 2016, but it is now likely that (part of) the Amendment Act – such as the amendment to the Dutch Securities Giro Act – will enter into force on 1 April 2016.

View the final text of the Amendment Act (in Dutch only), 24 November 2015.