On 12 June 2025, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) issued its latest newsletter outlining developments related to the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (Regulation 2023/1114, MiCAR). A key focus of this update is the AFM’s supervisory strategy following the end of the transitional period.
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Third-party payments involve invoices paid by entities or individuals that are not the original parties to the agreement. While there may be legitimate reasons for such arrangements, third-party payments are also sometimes used to obscure the origin of funds or to conceal the involvement of certain parties. As such, they present a potential method for
On 2 May 2025, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published an annex (the Annex) to its guidelines on the Act on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financiering van terrorisme, the Wwft), the
On 24 April 2025, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a news update concerning the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882, the EAA), which will become applicable in the Netherlands as of 28 June 2025. In this news item, the AFM urges financial institutions
On 2 April 2025, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) announced the launch of an exploratory investigation into financial services provided under the so-called ‘national regime’ exemption. This regime allows financial service providers and investment firms in the Netherlands to provide (i) investment advice and (ii)
On 28 February 2025, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) reminded companies offering group insurance policies of the upcoming licence requirement, effective 1 October 2025. This requirement follows a 29 September 2022 ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU, clarifying licensing obligations for group
On 18 February 2025, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) posted an update on the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR). The IPR entered into force on 8 April 2024 and payment service providers (PSPs) needed to comply with a first set of obligations from 9 January 2025, with more
On 12 November 2024, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten, AFM) published its Consumer Monitor Investors report (Consumentenmonitor Beleggers). The key message in the report is that not all asset managers and investment advisors comply with the obligation to ask investors about their sustainability preferences. Only 25%
On 30 October 2024, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten, AFM) released findings from its exploratory study on the rising number of fund managers operating under the so-called Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) light regime. The AIFM-light regime applies to smaller fund managers with assets under €100 million
On 28 October 2024, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of an explorative study (in the form of a report) into how asset managers deal with the availability, reliability and comparability of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data. The study