On 25 March 2021, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) started a public consultation of a proposed revision of the policy rule used to determine the amount of nearly all administrative fines imposed by the AFM: the Fine Allocation Policy AFM 2021 (Boetetoemetingsbeleid AFM 2021, the New Policy). The … Continue Reading
On 22 March 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published its first progress report on financial climate-related risks and opportunities in its areas of responsibility. This report has been incorporated in annex 1 of DNB’s annual report for 2020 (the annual report is currently only available in Dutch; the English version will … Continue Reading
Further to our earlier blog post in December 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has published on its website a revised suitability matrix which now also takes into account climate and environmental risks when screening relevant individuals at pension funds, banks and insurers. According to DNB the revised suitability matrix offers ample … Continue Reading
On 10 February 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has published its response to a letter it received from the Dutch Association of Bitcoin Companies (Verenigde Bitcoinbedrijven Nederland) in November 2020. The Dutch Association of Bitcoin Companies raised a number of questions with regard to DNB’s supervision in relation to the registration … Continue Reading
On 14 January 2021, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published its supervisory agenda for 2021 (the 2021 Agenda). In the 2021 Agenda, the AFM points out that the corona crisis is causing an economic contraction, Brexit is causing uncertainty in the capital markets, and the combination of these … Continue Reading
On 15 December 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) and the French Authority for Financial Markets (Autorité des marchés financiers, the AMF) published a position paper containing a call for a European Regulation for the provision of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data, ratings, and related services. This … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) issued a press release in which the regulator indicates to follow the European Central Bank’s (ECB) recommendation of 15 December 2020, urging large banks subject to ECB supervision to be very restrained when it comes to making dividend payments or buying back own … Continue Reading
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has indicated in a recent news item on its website that the quality of outsourcing notifications could be improved. DNB notes that the Solvency II Directive requires insurers to notify DNB, in a timely manner, the (sub)outsourcing of activities to a third party. Where it concerns the … Continue Reading
According to the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) in a recent news item, financial institutions increasingly have to take into account risks associated with climate change and the transition to a sustainable/climate-neutral economy. In light of this, and as previously announced by DNB in its CSR strategy 2020 and Supervision Outlook 2020, DNB … Continue Reading
On 30 November 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) issued a press release in which the regulator indicates that outsourcing contracts between supervised institutions and a large IT supplier structurally fails to comply with applicable laws and regulations. DNB notes that the outsourcing contract did, for example, not include a right to … Continue Reading
On 24 November 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) issued a press release stating that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic it has updated its “Supervisory Strategy 2021-2024”. The strategy fleshes out the priorities DNB had identified in 2018 in the areas of technological innovation, sustainability and financial crime. In particular, DNB … Continue Reading
On 25 November 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a report titled ‘The transition to alternative benchmark rates’ (the Report). The Report is a feedback report setting out the main findings resulting from an information request made by the AFM and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche … Continue Reading
On 21 May 2020 the Act implementing the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) (Implementatiewet wijziging vierde anti-witwasrichtlijn, the Act) entered into force. The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has published a news item emphasizing that the transitional arrangements laid down in the Act will expire on 21 November 2020. As a result, crypto … Continue Reading
On 3 November 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) published the Trend Monitor 2021 (Trendzicht 2021). Every year, the AFM identifies the most important trends and related risks that will have an impact on the financial markets, in order to then further develop its supervision agenda. The Trend Monitor … Continue Reading
On 27 October 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published guidelines on the insurance product information document (IPID) which is required under the Insurance Distribution Directive. The guidelines contain the AFM’s most important findings and points for attention following an assessment of various IPIDs of household, liability and … Continue Reading
On 27 October 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item on the Guideline on the Use of Deforestation Risk Mitigation Solutions for Financial Institutions (the Guideline). The Guideline has been published by the Sustainable Finance Platform, which is presided by DNB. The Guideline provides an overview of services and … Continue Reading
On 27 October 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item aimed at insurers regarding Brexit. In its news item DNB calls on insurers to liaise with UK investment firms and take appropriate action to prevent bottlenecks in the service provision by UK investment firms to insurers as of 1 … Continue Reading
If the negotiations between the UK and the EU do not result in a (clear) agreement at the end of the Brexit transition period, and the temporary transition regime that was introduced in the Netherlands for UK investment firms (Dutch Transition Regime) back in February 2019 does not enter into effect, UK investment firms will … Continue Reading
On 26 August 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) announced that it started a follow-up investigation into the monitoring of transactions and the reporting of unusual transactions by investment firms and investment funds. An earlier investigation from 2019 showed deficiencies in these areas. In 2019, the AFM investigated … Continue Reading
On 28 August 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) announced that a study from the AFM on the effectiveness of the MiFID II regulatory framework for the fixed-income and derivatives markets has shown that price formation still needs to be more transparent and that the MiFID II rules … Continue Reading
On 6 July 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) announced that it will review dividend proposals from insurers under its supervision as usual. In the beginning of April 2020 there was a call to temporarily suspend the distribution of dividends and the buying back of own shares until there would be more … Continue Reading
On 6 July 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a sector letter containing guidelines on sustainability in the context of new rules and regulations. Many new laws and regulations are currently being introduced in the field of sustainability. For example, as of 10 March 2021, the EU … Continue Reading
On 6 July 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) issued a press release supporting the recent recommendation from the European Systemic Risk Board (ERSB) on the restriction of distributions during the COVID-19 pandemic. DNB expects that during these uncertain times investment firms and alternative investment funds will closely monitor their financial buffers. … Continue Reading
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) recently announced that they will be requesting financial institutions to provide information on the transition to alternative interest rate benchmarks. The global transition from Inter Bank Offered Rates to Risk Free Rates will end … Continue Reading
