On 5 November 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a Q&A and good practice document addressing how insurers should take into account climate-related risks in their Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) under Solvency II. In the Q&A, DNB indicates that insurers are required to take into account climate-related risks in … Continue Reading
The special US Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis invited the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) for a roundtable session at Capitol Hill, which took place on 17 October. Mr Frank Elderson, chair of the NGFS and executive director of the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB), gave an introductory … Continue Reading
On 25 September 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published their findings and best practices on the transitioning to alternative benchmarks. The transitioning to alternative benchmarks follows from the EU Benchmarks Regulation (BMR). The AFM and DNB require the users … Continue Reading
The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) currently allows certain groups of proprietary traders (persons dealing on own account) not to comply with the 20% bonus cap. In 2017, propriety traders faced a situation where they would be subject to the bonus cap with immediate effect, while they were first … Continue Reading
On 28 August 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published good practices for non-life insurers (schadeverzekeraars) in relation to the adequate risk control of authorised agents (gevolmachtigd agenten). The good practices set out the regulatory requirements for the use of authorized agents and how DNB expects that these requirements are complied with. … Continue Reading
On 28 August 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published several updates in relation to PSD2. Exemptions from contingency mechanism: sixteen account servicing payment service providers (ASPSP) have applied with DNB for an exemption from the contingency mechanism requirement under Article 33(6) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389. DNB is currently considering these … Continue Reading
On 28 August 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a final Q&A which provides clarification on whether subscriptions (abonnementen) offered to consumers may be considered as a non-life insurance (schadeverzekering) product DNB indicates that subscriptions exist in various sectors in multiple variations and that the specific content and context of the … Continue Reading
On 16 August 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a news item indicating that in the last week of August, alternative investment funds and their managers will be receiving a questionnaire in relation to anti-money laundering and sanctions risks. This questionnaire is circulated annually and the AFM … Continue Reading
On 25 July 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a guidance document containing general principles for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector (the Guidance Document). The Guidance Document serves as a discussion paper containing DNB’s preliminary views on the responsible use of AI in the financial sector. … Continue Reading
On 25 July 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a brochure on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the insurance sector (the AI Brochure). The AFM and DNB foresee a rapidly increasing use of AI in the … Continue Reading
On 17 July 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) launched a public consultation on its revised guidance document on the Act on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme, Wwft) and the Sanctions Act 1977 (Sanctiewet 1977, SW) (the Guidance Document). The … Continue Reading
On 30 June 2019, the Dutch Minister of Finance and the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security published their joint action plan on the prevention of money laundering via the Dutch financial system and on localizing and prosecution of criminals and their facilitators (the Plan). Combatting anti-money laundering has had a European wide focus for … Continue Reading
On 14 June 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published the draft Decree amending the Suitability Policy Rule 2012 (Besluit tot wijziging van de Beleidsregel Geschiktheid 2012, the Decree) for public consultation. The Suitability Policy Rule provides for more detailed … Continue Reading
On 12 June 2019, the Financial Supervision Funding Regulation 2019 (Regeling bekostiging financieel toezicht 2019, the Regulation) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatscourant). The Regulation is based on the Financial Supervision Funding Act (Wet bekostiging financieel toezicht) and the Financial Supervision Funding Decree 2019 (Besluit bekostiging financieel toezicht 2019) and sets out the … Continue Reading
On 23 May 2019, the Act extending notification obligations for shareholders (Wet uitbreiding meldplichten aandeelhouders, the Act) was published for consultation. Chapter 5.3 of the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht, AFS) will be amended. The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) maintains a register for substantial … Continue Reading
On 15 May 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) and the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (the SFC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Recognition of Funds (the MoU). The MoU will allow eligible Dutch Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and … Continue Reading
The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) has invited market parties to respond to its consultation on the ‘Principles for Information Security’. This policy statement (beleidsuiting) describes the expectations of the AFM with regard to information security as part of the controlled and sound operations of financial institutions and accounting … Continue Reading
The European Supervisory Authorities Joint Guidelines on the prudential assessment of acquisitions and increases of qualifying holdings in the banking, insurance and securities sectors (the Joint Guidelines) will be changing the way in which the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) handles applications for a declaration of no objection (verklaring van geen bezwaar, DNO). On … Continue Reading
In its press release of 30 April 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) emphasises that financial institutions are required to take measures to identify and assess money laundering and terrorist financing risks in accordance with the recently revised Act on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (Wet ter voorkoming van … Continue Reading
On 25 April 2019, a press release and letter were published through which the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) asks financial institutions for the preparations and actions they are taking to manage transition from critical benchmarks such as LIBOR to … Continue Reading
Further to our earlier blog post, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) has taken national measures mirroring ESMA’s product intervention measures. These measures – included in two separate Decrees, one dealing with binary options and the other with contracts for differences (CFDs) – were published in the Dutch Government … Continue Reading
On 26 March 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) announced that in 2019 it will conduct follow-up research to come up with a supervisory approach that aligns with the possibilities and risks of ‘Insurtech’ (technological innovation in the insurance sector). In its press release, DNB notes that it follows from interviews that … Continue Reading
On 20 March 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) announced that it has signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) as part of its new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. By doing so DNB, has committed itself to integrate six environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in its investment practices. DNB is … Continue Reading
Following an investigation in January 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) announced its intention to introduce two national product intervention measures, following the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) EU-wide temporary measures relating to binary options and CFDs introduced last year. The investigation has made it clear that … Continue Reading
