On 7 July 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors regarding stablecoins. The June 2019 revisions to the FATF Standards place anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) requirements on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The FATF report finds that stablecoins share … Continue Reading
On 7 July 2020, the decree setting the effective date of the Act on the introduction of the UBO register (Implementatiewet registratie uiteindelijk belanghebbenden van vennootschappen en andere juridische entiteiten, the UBO Register Act) was published in the Dutch Bulletin of Acts and Decrees (Staatsblad van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). Only part of the UBO … Continue Reading
On 2 July 2020, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued an updated version of its guidelines on ‘Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism’. The updated version of the guidelines contains a new paragraph 96 in Part IV (role of supervisors) and Annex 5 (interaction and cooperation between prudential … Continue Reading
On 2 July 2020, the European Commission announced that it had referred Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union, with a request for financial sanctions, for failing to fully implement the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive into their national law. The Commission states that incomplete transposition concerns fundamental aspects … Continue Reading
On 19 June 2020, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ) the Delegated Regulation that the European Commission adopted on 7 May 2020 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 which supplements the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive by identifying those third countries that have strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and countering the financing … Continue Reading
On 15 June 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a call for input to understand the scale and drivers of ‘de-risking’ at the EU-level and its impact on customers. The call forms part of the EBA’s work to lead, coordinate and monitor the EU financial sector’s anti-money laundering/counter the financing of terrorism efforts and … Continue Reading
On 29 May 2020, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) submitted the Further Memorandum of Reply (nadere memorie van antwoord) with regard to the Act on the introduction of the UBO register (Implementatiewet registratie uiteindelijk belanghebbenden van vennootschappen en andere juridische entiteiten) to the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer). In the Further Memorandum of Reply, … Continue Reading
The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) recently requested investment firms and tied agents in the Netherlands, as well as Dutch branch offices of foreign investment firms, to complete an online questionnaire on compliance with the Act on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (Wet ter voorkoming van … Continue Reading
On 7 May 2020, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 supplementing the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive as regards the Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar/Burma, Nicaragua, Panama and Zimbabwe to the table in point I of the Annex and deleting Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Guyana, Lao People’s Democratic … Continue Reading
On 12 May 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published the results of its inquiry into dividend arbitrage schemes, which looked into the actions of prudential and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML / CFT) supervisors in dealing with such schemes. In May 2019, the EBA carried out a survey of competent … Continue Reading
Further to its communication published last month, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has now published a report into COVID-19-associated money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risks and expected policy responses. Key ML/TF risks The report identified the following key ML and TF risks: Increased remote transactions – given the closure of many physical … Continue Reading
As set out in our earlier blog post, the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) adopted the Act implementing the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) (Implementatiewet wijziging vierde anti-witwasrichtlijn, the Act) on 21 April 2020. On 4 May 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a new edition of its newsletter for crypto service … Continue Reading
On 28 April 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced that it was temporarily postponing all remaining FATF mutual evaluations and follow-up deadlines. The FATF has also decided on a general pause in the review process for the list of high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action and jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring, … Continue Reading
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) recently submitted its legislative letter (wetgevingsbrief) for 2020 to the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister). This letter is submitted to the Minister annually and sets out the relevant European and national developments relevant to the financial sector and the legislative changes desired by DNB to address bottlenecks in Dutch laws … Continue Reading
The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) recently submitted its legislative letter (wetgevingsbrief) for 2020 to the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister). This letter is submitted to the Minister annually and sets out the relevant European and national developments relevant to the financial sector and the legislative changes desired … Continue Reading
On 21 April 2020, the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) adopted the Act implementing the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) (Implementatiewet wijziging vierde anti-witwasrichtlijn, the Act). The Act implements 5MLD into Dutch law, primarily by amending the Act on the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financiering van … Continue Reading
On 21 April 2020, the Dutch Minister of Finance submitted the Repair Act Financial Markets 2020 (Herstelwet financiële markten 2020, the 2020 Repair Act) to the Dutch Parliament. The 2020 Repair Act aims to repair deficiencies and omissions that have occurred in the implementation of European directives and regulations in the field of financial markets. … Continue Reading
On 17 April 2020, the Wolfsberg Group released an updated version of its Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire (CBDDQ) and Financial Crimes Compliance Questionnaire (FCCQ) with changes focused on greater clarity and ease of use. The Wolfsberg Group has also updated the supporting FAQs, completion guidance and capacity building guidance. The principal changes are: Questions … Continue Reading
On 14 April 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) announced that investment funds and investment firms are still not doing enough to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Under the Act on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van … Continue Reading
On 9 April 2020, the draft Act amending the Act on the Supervision of Trust Offices 2018 (Wet toezicht trustkantoren 2018, the Wtt 2018) (the Amendment Act) was published for public consultation. The Amendment Act proposes to change a number of provisions of the Wtt 2018 in order to promote the integrity of the financial … Continue Reading
On 3 April 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a news item stating that the 15 investment funds and investment firms that were subject of the AFM’s investigation have improved their processes to reduce integrity risks (such as money laundering and terrorist financing related risks). Since an … Continue Reading
On 24 March 2020, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) sent the Further Memorandum of Reply (nadere memorie van antwoord) with regard to the Act implementing the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) (Implementatiewet wijziging vierde anti-witwasrichtlijn, the Act) to the Dutch Senate. In the Further Memorandum of Reply the Minister answers a number of … Continue Reading
The European Commission intends to propose a number of far-reaching measures in order to increase the EU’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. After the deadline for Member States to transpose the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD)) into national law on 10 January 2020, the Commission is due to publish a new Action … Continue Reading
As set out in our recent blog post on the status of the three legislative proposals implementing the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Vijfde anti-witwasrichtlijn, 5MLD) in the Netherlands, the Dutch Minister of Finance has requested the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) to deal with the legislative proposals separately going forward. On 3 March 2020, the standing … Continue Reading
