On 2 May 2016, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation a draft legislative proposal of the Act on the Supervision of Trust Offices 2018 (Wet toezicht trustkantoren 2018, the Proposed Act). It is intended that the Proposed Act will replace the current Act on the Supervision of Trust Offices, which entered into force on 1 March 2004.
This legislative proposal – which is open for consultation until 30 May 2016 – seeks to further regulate trust offices partly as a result of domestic insight gained by the Dutch regulators during supervisory visits (the Proposed Act comes hot on the heels of various warnings and recommendations published by the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) in recent months with respect to the trust sector in the Netherlands) but also due to changes to the European regulatory framework (for example, the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (2015/849) (Vierde Anti-witwasrichtlijn).
Key changes that are set out in the Proposed Act include, for example the:
- alignment with the norms for controlled and sound business operations applicable to financial institutions which are subject to the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht);
- introduction of the requirement for trust offices to at all times have at least two daily policymakers (dagelijkse beleidsbepalers); and
- introduction of a legal basis for the legislator to prohibit structures which, amongst other things, are aimed at preserving the anonymity of the ultimate beneficial owner.
View the Proposed Act (Dutch only), 2 May 2016.
View the Explanatory Memorandum to the Proposed Act (Dutch only), 2 May 2016.
