On 17 December 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) published a news item on the outcome of its periodical investigation into investment firms and their compliance with the Act on the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financiering van terrorisme, Wwft) … Continue Reading
On 29 October 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) published a report setting out the most important trends and risks in the financial sector (the Report). The primary purpose of the Report is to provide substantive background, depth and coherence in relation to relevant supervisory issues. In the Report, … Continue Reading
On 10 October 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) published the following forms in relation to the Money Market Funds Regulation (MMFR) in its Digital Portal: an application form to be used by managers of alternative investment funds (AIFs) and undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) to … Continue Reading
On 30 August 2018, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) notified financial institutions that it expects them to make the necessary amendments to their systems and procedures to comply with the implementation of the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (EU/2015/849) (Vierde anti-witwasrichtlijn, 4MLD) that came into force on 25 July 2018. The main aspects as referred … Continue Reading
On 27 June 2018, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item on licence applications under the Payment Services Directive (2015/2366/EU) (recast) (PSD2) and certain new publications of the European Banking Authority (EBA) on PSD2. Effective from 6 July 2018, market participants are able to submit their draft licence applications to … Continue Reading
On 18 June 2018, the Financial Supervision Funding Decree 2018 (Regeling bekostiging financieel toezicht 2018, the Decree) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatscourant). The Decree implements the Financial Supervision Funding Act (Wet bekostiging financieel toezicht) and sets out the bandwidths and tariffs for supervisory costs levied by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial … Continue Reading
On 13 June 2018, the Dutch Minister of Finance (Minister) sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) regarding the implementation of a motion that aims to organise the objection procedure (bezwaarprocedure) in the context of integrity and suitability screenings carried out by Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) and … Continue Reading
On 5 June 2018, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) released its Payments Strategy for 2018 to 2021. DNB indicates that it will focus on three key priorities: stimulating innovation: DNB seeks to stimulate innovation by deepening its understanding of new technologies, such as those underlying cryptos and supporting market initiatives. In this … Continue Reading
On 26 April 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published their legislative letters for 2018. The AFM and the DNB annually send legislative letters to the Dutch Minister of Finance in which they set out relevant European and national … Continue Reading
On 24 April 2018, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item announcing that it has launched a consultation on good practices for controlling outsourcing risks. According to DNB, insurers outsource various activities for various reasons (for example, to make use of the knowledge and scale of a service provider or … Continue Reading
On 21 March 2018, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published Q&As relevant to investment firms dealing on own account (handelaren voor eigen rekening), so-called proprietary trading firms. The background to the Q&As are developments around the prudential regime and remuneration rules applicable to proprietary trading firms that were designated as local firms … Continue Reading
On 23 January 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) issued a press release on its website stating that it has concluded an investigation into compliance with statutory requirements regarding sound business conduct, governance and separation of assets by 12 managers of alternative investment funds (AIFMs) that were automatically … Continue Reading
On 24 January 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) issued a press release on its website announcing its supervisory agenda for 2018 (the Agenda 2018). In its press release, the AFM puts emphasis on new data analysis initiatives that it will be commencing in 2018 with the aim … Continue Reading
On 4 January 2018, the Regulation competence employees investment firms (Regeling vakbekwaamheid medewerkers beleggingsondernemingen Wft, the Regulation) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatsblad). The Regulation forms part of the legislative package implementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) (2014/65/EU) (MiFID II). Besides introducing rules on the required professional competence of employees of an … Continue Reading
On 21 December 2017, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) issued a press release on proposed changes to the Further Regulation on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings (Nadere Regeling gedragstoezicht financiële ondernemingen Wft, the Further Regulation). In the Summer of 2017, the AFM consulted on changes to the Further Regulation as a … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2017, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a news item in which it states that due to the low number of notifications of unusual transactions made by investment firms and investment funds (four to date in 2017, similar to 2016), it will supervise this reporting … Continue Reading
On 29 November 2017, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published an update on its investigations into the use and functioning of a systematic integrity risk analysis (SIRA) of banks in practice. According to DNB, an effective SIRA contributes to avoiding financial-economic crimes and forms the basis for sound business operations. DNB currently … Continue Reading
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) recently published its supervisory priorities for the years 2018 to 2022 in the form of two documents: the ‘Supervisory Strategy 2018 – 2022’ (the Supervisory Strategy); and the ‘Supervision Outlook for 2018’ (the Supervision Outlook). In these two documents, DNB identifies the priority themes that it will … Continue Reading
On 29 November 2017, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) issued a press release stating that it expects that market parties will exert their maximum efforts to comply with the recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) (the Press Release). In its Press Release, the AFM indicates, among … Continue Reading
On 13 November 2017, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) circulated a letter on amendments that will be made to the regulatory framework for the so-called local firms (plaatselijke ondernemingen) (the Letter). In its letter, DNB states that investment firms holding a licence to perform the investment activity of “proprietary trading” only since … Continue Reading
On 13 November 2017, the AFM issued a press release in which it warns about the risks of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In its press release, the AFM states that the issuance of digital tokens primarily for the purpose of financing start-ups is currently vulnerable to deception, scams and manipulation. The AFM believes that the … Continue Reading
On 3 October 2017, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) issued a press release expressing its concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing risks run by alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) that are exempted from the licence obligation laid down in the Act of Financial Supervision (Wet op het … Continue Reading
On 27 September 2017, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published guidance on managing data quality by insurers in relation to the Solvency II Directive (the Guidance Document). In the Guidance Document, DNB provides guidance on and good practices for the most important elements and principles under the Solvency II Directive to ensure … Continue Reading
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) recently published for consultation a draft of the Regulation on Sound Remuneration Policies 2017 (Regeling beheerst beloningsbeleid 2017, the Regulation). The Regulation will replace the 2014 regulation of the same name. The reason behind renewing and actualising this regulation around sound remuneration are the European sectoral remuneration … Continue Reading
