According to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (in Dutch: “De Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme”, abbreviated as the “Wwft”) some intitutions are obliged to implement measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Those measures may vary from a client screening to not entering into or discontinuing a business relationship. If the supervised institutions fail in taking these measures, the supervisor may impose substantial penalties.
The supervisory bodies on money laundering in the Netherlands
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act is applicable to different categories of institutions, which have dissimilar supervisors.
The first supervisor is De Nederlandse Bank (DNB), which is supervising banks, financial institutions, deposit box providers, currency exchange agencies, life insurance companies, trust offices, casinos, payment service providers and agents, and electronic money institutions. For these institutions the DNB published the DNB Guidance on the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Act and the Sanctions Act. The Guidance is not legally binding, but gives an explanation of the obligations arising from the abovementioned Act. The Guidance contains guidance on topics like the risk based approach, client due diligence, monitoring processes, the reporting of unusual transactions, training/education and sanction regulations.
Furthermore, the Financial Supervision Office and the Bar Association supervises lawyers, civil-law notaries, auditors, tax consultants and accountancy firms.