News item | 24-08-2022 | 12:40
The Netherlands scores well in an international evaluation of the approach to money laundering and terrorist financing. At the same time, there are various points where the Netherlands can make improvements. This is according to a report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published today.
Robust system
According to the FATF, the Netherlands has made great progress in recent years in its approach to money laundering and terrorist financing. The Financial Task Force describes the Dutch approach to money laundering as a robust system and regards domestic cooperation and coordination at both policy and operational levels as core qualities. The Netherlands is a frontrunner in its collaboration with private parties and the non-profit sector. International cooperation and the intensive and innovative use of data and financial intelligence in criminal investigations are also positive points.
The FATF notes that the Netherlands gives priority to the criminal law approach to money laundering and the confiscation of criminal assets and that this is leading to increasingly better results.
Points of improvement
At the same time, the FATF notes that the Netherlands must do even more to prevent legal entities from being misused for criminal purposes. Certainly in complex international structures, institutions designated under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (the Wwft), such as banks, investment institutions or managers, investment firms, financial service providers that mediate in life insurance, civil-law notaries and lawyers must take more steps to establish determine who the ultimate beneficiaries (the UBO) are. The regulation of new platforms such as crypto service providers also requires tightening. More resources are needed to tackle illegal services in the field of trust services and underground banking. Other improvements proposed by the FATF relate to compliance with the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (Wwft) by non-financial professions such as civil-law notaries, lawyers and traders and their supervision. The FATF also recommends that these groups be required to report asset freezes due to international sanctions. In the autumn, the government will provide the House of Representatives with a response to the findings and recommendations of the FATF.
FATF
The FATF is an intergovernmental organization engaged in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of weapons of mass destruction. The FATF has 39 members: 37 countries, including the Netherlands, and two regional organizations (the European Commission and the Cooperation Council of Arab Gulf States). One of the tasks of the FATF is to establish international standards for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT standards). In addition, the FATF conducts periodic evaluations to see whether its members meet the AML/CFT standards and whether this is producing results. An international team of nine experts carried out the evaluation.