On 27 December 2020, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) reached on 24 December 2020 between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) on their future relationship. The Minister notes that financial institutions in the UK will … 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 10 June 2020, a proposal to amend the Financial Supervision Funding Decree 2019 (Besluit bekostiging financieel toezicht 2019) was published for public consultation. This proposal will change the distribution of the supervisory costs of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) among the different supervisory categories. Back in 2019 … Continue Reading
On 6 March 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) issued a press release emphasising the potential major impact of the Coronavirus on the continuity of financial institutions. DNB believes that the Coronavirus requires a different approach from standard continuity planning. Financial institutions have traditionally focused on the continuity of their services in … Continue Reading
On 16 January 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published its agenda for 2020 (the 2020 Agenda) and a strategy document outlining the AFM’s focus areas for the coming years (the 2020-2022 Strategy Document). In the 2020 Agenda the AFM states that the five most important trends for … Continue Reading
On 14 January 2020, the Decree amending the Suitability Policy Rule 2012 (Besluit tot wijziging van de Beleidsregel Geschiktheid 2012, the Decree) was published in the Bulletin of Acts and Decrees (Staatscourant). Since its consultation in June 2019, some minor changes have been made to the Decree, including but not limited to the incorporation of … Continue Reading
On 17 December 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) organised a roundtable session on the sustainability of the financial sector with the standing committee on finance (vaste commissie voor Financiën). A day earlier, DNB published a position paper in preparation for the roundtable session which summarises the results of various DNB reports … Continue Reading
On 19 December 2019, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published on its website Principles for Information Security (the Principles). The Principles were submitted for consultation earlier this year and have now become final. The AFM indicates that the management of information security risks is becoming increasingly important as … Continue Reading
On 15 October 2019, the European Commission (Commission) and the Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA) published a joint statement (dated 11 October) on the inaugural meeting of the joint EU-Japan regulatory forum held in Tokyo. Senior officials present at the meeting included representatives from the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the European … Continue Reading
On 10 September 2019 the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the list of Commissioner-designates and the allocation of their respective portfolios. Under a new structure of the College of Commissioners with its eight Vice-Presidents, the responsibility for DG Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) will remain … 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 5 July 2019, the Act on the further remuneration measures for the financial sector (Wet nadere beloningsmaatregelen financiële sector, the Act) was published for public consultation. The Act will, among other things, propose the following amendments to the current remuneration rules: Introduction of a statutory retention period for certain financial instruments: directors and employees … 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 7 June 2019, the Dutch Minister sent the Amendment Decree Financial Markets 2019 (Wijzigingsbesluit financiële markten 2019, the Amendment Decree) to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) and the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer). Among other things, the Amendment Decree will amend the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiële ondernemingen … 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
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
On 26 March 2019, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) announced that it will conduct a sector-wide research into non-financial risks that are important for controlled and ethical business operations of insurers. For this purpose, DNB will make an inquiry with insurers to gain insight into a number of non-financial risks in the … 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
On 20 December 2018, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public statement stating that it is ready to review UK central counterparties’ (CCPs) and Central Securities Depositories’ (CSDs) recognition applications for a no-deal Brexit scenario. ESMA states that it aims to recognise UK CCPs in a timely manner, where the four recognition conditions … Continue Reading
On 17 December 2018, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament on the decision-making progress with regard to the revised EU prudential framework for investment firms. This framework consists of a proposal for a regulation on prudential requirements for investment firms (the Investment Firm Regulation) and a proposal … Continue Reading
On 2 November 2018, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament which addresses topics which the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) had requested the Minister to implement. Amongst other things, the following topics are … Continue Reading
On 2 November 2018, the Regulation on costs for one-time supervisory actions (Regeling bekostiging financieel toezicht eenmalige handelingen, the Proposed Regulation) was published for consultation. The Proposed Regulation will amend the fees for one-time supervisory actions by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche … Continue Reading
