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 19 December 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance and the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security sent the results of two investigations to the Dutch Parliament: the National Risk Assessment Money Laundering report; and the National Risk Assessment Terrorist Financing report, together the Reports. The two investigations into the risks of money laundering and … 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
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 17 November 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published a first draft of the Regulation competence employees investment firms (Regeling vakbekwaamheid medewerkers beleggingsondernemingen Wft, the Regulation) for consultation. The Regulation forms part of the legislative package implementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) (2014/65/EU) (MiFID II). The Regulation contains further rules on the … 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 23 October 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance sent the following documents to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer): a report on the Act implementing the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) (Implementatiewet herziene richtlijn betaaldiensten) (the Implementation Act); the draft legislative proposal for the Implementation Act; the advice from the Council of State (Raad van … Continue Reading
On 22 September 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) announced that the implementation of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) in the Netherlands by the 13 January 2018 deadline will no longer be feasible. The Minister has indicated that the draft legislative proposal implementing the PSD2, which was published for consultation in November … Continue Reading
On 5 July 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) published for consultation a draft legislative proposal for the Financial Supervision Funding Act 2019 (Wet bekostiging financieel toezicht 2019) (the Proposed Act). The Proposed Act is a revised version of the existing Financial Supervision Funding Act (Wet bekostiging financieel toezicht) (the Existing Act) and … Continue Reading
On 16 June 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published a joint reaction from the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument en Markt), the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten), the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) and the Ministry of Finance, on the consultation paper ‘Fintech: a more competitive … Continue Reading
On 6 June 2017, the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) approved the draft Act implementing the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation (PRIIPs Regulation) (Wet implementatie verordening essentiële-informatiedocumenten, the Implementation Act). The rules set out in the PRIIPs Regulation have direct effect and do not need to be transposed in national legislation. However, to grant … Continue Reading
A working group established by the Committee on the Global Financial System and the Financial Stability Board has published a report on FinTech credit. FinTech credit is credit activity facilitated by electronic platforms such as peer-to-peer lenders. FinTech platforms facilitate various forms of credit, including consumer and business lending, lending against real estate, and non-loan … Continue Reading
On 17 May 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published the Amendment Decree Financial Markets 2017 (Wijzigingsbesluit financiële markten 2017, the Amendment Decree) in the Bulletin of Acts and Decrees (Staatsblad). The Amendment Decree is part of an annual cycle of amendments to the laws and regulations relevant to the Dutch financial sector. The Amendment … Continue Reading
On 2 May 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation the Act implementing the Regulation on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds (Benchmarks Regulation) (Wet uitvoering verordening financiële benchmarks) (the Implementation Act). The Implementation Act will amend, among other things, the … Continue Reading
On 2 May 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation the Decree implementing the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation (PRIIPs Regulation) (Besluit implementatie verordening essentiële-informatiedocumenten) (the Implementation Decree). The Implementation Decree will amend, among other things, the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiële ondernemingen Wft, … Continue Reading
On 11 April 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation a draft legislative proposal of the Act identifying holders of bearers shares (Wet identificatie houders van aandelen aan toonder) (the Proposed Act). The Proposed Act introduces new rules that will make it possible to identify holders of bearer shares. Once the Proposed Act … Continue Reading
On 23 March 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation a first draft of the Decree implementing (i) the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) (2014/65/EU) (MiFID II), (ii) the Delegated Regulation supplementing MiFID II as regards organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms and defined terms for the purposes of the … Continue Reading
On 10 March 2017, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published its supervisory agenda for 2017 (the Agenda) as well as a calendar setting out the AFM’s envisaged activities (the Calendar). In the accompanying press release, the AFM indicates that it will focus on markets that can have a … Continue Reading
On 25 January 2017, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published two new licence application forms. The new forms are published in respect of the licence application requirements pursuant to MiFID II. The first form is the licence application form that can be used by investment firms which require … Continue Reading
On 4 January 2017, the Dutch Minister of Finance published a draft legislative proposal implementing the regulation on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investments products (PRIIPs Regulation) (the Proposed Act). The Proposed Act will be implemented in the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht, the AFS). The PRIIPs … Continue Reading
On 23 December 2016, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published its feedback statement with respect to the segregation of client assets. In addition, it published the feedback it received. The relevant amended rules as laid down in the Further Regulation on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings … Continue Reading
On 23 December 2016, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation a draft legislative proposal implementing the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) (the Proposed Act). The Proposed Act will be implemented in, among others, the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht). The IDD aims to: (i) create a level playing field … Continue Reading
On 21 December 2016, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a guidance document setting out the level of investment knowledge that DNB expects from (prospective) pension fund directors (the Guidance Document). Directors (and certain other (co-)policymakers) of, among others, pension funds, banks and insurers need to be screened for integrity (betrouwbaarheid) and … Continue Reading