On 21 April 2016, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament which sets out how several motions and commitments from the Dutch Parliament in respect of financial markets have been implemented.
The motions which are mentioned in the letter include, amongst other things, the request to investigate to what extent the Dutch Data Protection Act (Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens, DPA) offers sufficient protection to ensure the privacy of bank account holders. In his letter, the Minister indicates that the DPA sufficiently protects the privacy of bank account holders and that a legislative change in this respect is not necessary at this point in time.
Furthermore, the Minister addresses several commitments that were made to the Dutch Parliament. These commitments include, but are not limited to a commitment:
- to grant the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) the authority to give binding instructions in case there is doubt in respect of the suitability and integrity of persons. The Minister indicates that such authority will not be granted as a result of the Council of State’s (Raad van State) earlier advice in this respect;
- that iDEAL customers are informed on the charges that apply when making use of iDEAL; and
- to specifically address the question on how the Code of Conduct for the Processing of Personal Data by Financial Institutions (Gedragscode verwerking persoonsgegevens financiële instellingen, Code of Conduct) relates to the DPA.
View the letter from the Minister (Dutch only), 21 April 2016.
