On 20 June 2016, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation a draft legislative proposal of the Act on transparent supervision financial markets (Wetsvoorstel transparant toezicht financiële markten, the Proposed Act). The Proposed Act – which is open for consultation until 31 July 2016 – aims to make the supervision of the financial markets more transparent by amending the chapter on publication powers of the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht, the AFS). The proposed amendments include:

• an extension of the powers of the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) to issue public warnings;
• DNB and the AFM will be able to publish the names of financial institutions when publishing the results of thematic investigations into compliance;
• DNB and the AFM will be able to respond to statements made by financial institutions relating to supervisory activities; and
• the introduction of a legal basis for DNB to publish key figures of banks (the type of figures will be designated by governmental decree).

View the Proposed Act (Dutch only), 20 June 2016.

View the consultation website (Dutch only), 20 June 2016.