In March 2023, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published its latest issue of Market Watch, a periodical newsletter on current topics and developments in the capital markets. This issue of Market Watch focuses on algorithmic trading, a topic that the AFM has been particularly focussed on recently. The … Continue Reading
On 7 March 2023, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten) published a news item on the concept of multilateral systems. Recently, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an opinion on the trading venue perimeter, in which ESMA describes whether certain systems and facilities qualify as ‘multilateral’ and, as a … Continue Reading
On 1 March 2023, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of an exploratory investigation into IT incident management in the capital markets. The AFM carried out this study in relation to eight trading venue operators and proprietary traders based on a self-assessment and IT incident notifications … Continue Reading
On 14 December 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published amendments to the Further Regulation on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings AFS (Nadere Regeling gedragstoezicht financiële ondernemingen Wft, the Further Regulation). The amendments concern the (1) Key Information Document (KID) for Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment … Continue Reading
On 10 November 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of an investigation it conducted on the status of compliance of financial undertakings with the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088, SFDR) and the related Taxonomy Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2020/852). The report covers its findings into … Continue Reading
On 11 October 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item in which it reminds investment firms and UCITS managers about their obligations in relation to the declaration no objection (verklaring van geen bezwaar, DNO) that holders of a qualifying holding in these regulated entities are required to obtain. It … Continue Reading
On 7 September 2022, the Decree implementation directives for investment firms and UCITS on sustainability risks and factors (Besluit implementatie richtlijnen voor beleggingsondernemingen en icbe’s inzake duurzaamheidsrisico’s en duurzaamheidsfactoren, the Decree) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatsblad). The Decree implements Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2021/1269 as regards the integration of sustainability factors into … Continue Reading
On 29 August 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published for consultation a supplement to the Guideline for investment advice and asset management service providers (Leidraad advies- en vermogensbeheerdienstverlening, the Guideline). The results of research conducted by the AFM, which were published earlier this year, show that there … Continue Reading
On 5 July 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) and the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) jointly published a news article on the obligation for certain investment firms to establish a risk committee and a remuneration committee. Risk committee The Investment Firms Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/2034, IFD) … Continue Reading
On 27 May 2022, the Amendment Act Financial Markets 2022 (Wijzigingswet financiële markten 2022) (the 2022 Act) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette. The 2022 Act contains changes to key legislation relevant to the Dutch financial markets, including, but not limited to, the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht, the AFS), … Continue Reading
On 29 April 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance published for consultation the draft legislative proposal for the Amendment Act Financial Markets 2024 (Wijzigingswet financiële markten 2024, the Amendment Act 2024). This legislative proposal is part of an annual cycle of changes to the legislation relevant to the Dutch financial markets. Changes that are part … Continue Reading
On 12 April 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of its investigation into advertisements (reclame-uitingen) of investment firms. For its investigation, the AFM reviewed advertisements of four investment firms in the fall of 2021. Each advertisement needs to independently comply with the applicable requirements. A … Continue Reading
On 21 March 2022, the Decree implementing Commission Delegated Directives (EU) 2021/169 and 2021/1270 (Besluit implementatie gedelegeerde richtlijnen (EU) 2021/1269 en 2021/1270, the Implementation Decree) was published for public consultation by the Dutch Minster of Finance. Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2021/1270 amends Commission Delegated Directive 2010/43/EU thereby imposing obligations on management companies of Undertakings for Collective Investment in … Continue Reading
On 9 February 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of a study into the quality of order execution on payment for order flow (PFOF) trading venues. The report containing the AFM’s findings is titled ‘Assessing the quality of executions on trading venues: The “Comparative Pricing … Continue Reading
On 25 October 2021, the Dutch Minister of Finance submitted the legislative proposal for the Amendment Act Financial Markets 2022 (Wijzigingswet financiële markten 2022) to the Dutch Parliament. The Amendment Act Financial Markets 2022 contains changes to key legislation relevant to the Dutch financial markets, including, but not limited to, the Act on the Financial … Continue Reading
On 15 October 2021, one of the members of the executive board of the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM), Jos Heuvelmans, gave a speech at the Investor Fair (BeleggersFair) on investments. In his speech, Mr Heuvelmans addresses the excellent performance of the AEX index. In this context he emphasises … Continue Reading
On 6 October 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item on its website drawing attention to the fact that from 1 October 2021 regulatory reporting for investment firms, fund managers and investment holdings had changed in a number of important areas. The changes were due to the entry into … Continue Reading
On 20 July 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a supervisory regulation clarifying the application of the Investment Firm Regulation (IFR) to managers of alternative investment funds (AIFs) and undertakings for the collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) (Managers) for public consultation (the Supervisory Regulation). The Supervisory Regulation is being published … Continue Reading
On 16 July 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a consultation version of a good practices and Q&A document on the integration of climate-related and environmental risks in the risk management of investment firms and (managers of) investment funds (the Good Practices Document). According to DNB, climate-related and environmental risks can … Continue Reading
On 17 June 2021, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a report titled “A review of MiFID II and MiFIR: Recommendations on transparency and a consolidated tape” (the Report). In the context of the European Commission’s revision of the MiFID II/MiFIR regime, the AFM is proposing a number … Continue Reading
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has recently published a newsletter in which it discusses a number of developments around the Investment Firms Regulation (IFR) and Investment Firms Directive (IFD). The IFR and IFD will make significant alterations to the prudential framework governing investment firms. This new prudential framework will take effect on … 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
