Supervision of money transaction offices in the Caribbean Netherlands

The operational supervision practice, i.e. where DNB and a supervised money transaction office meet, consists of several categories of activities:

• granting a money transaction office access to the market, e.g. by issuing a licence
• collecting information at a supervised money transaction office and reviewing this against applicable supervisory requirements
• correcting and intervening in a supervised money transaction office should it fail to comply with applicable supervisory requirements

The following themes are important for our supervision of the sector, on which relevant, current publications can be found at the bottom of this page.

Themes

• Applying for a licence
• Fit and proper assessments
• Separation of assets
• Integrity supervision
  
• Enforcement
• News and publications
• Register

Information about specific subjects 

Are you operating a money transaction office in the Caribbean Netherlands or are you planning to do so? On the Market access page, you can find more information and application forms.

If there is anything else you are looking for, feel free to contact us (in Dutch or English). Just call us at +31 20 524 9111 on business days between 9:00 and 17:00 (Dutch time). Or drop us a line at info@dnb.nl. 

Separation of assets

Money transaction offices must take adequate measures to safeguard and protect the rights of their customers. Separation and protection of assets is particularly important in the event of suspension of payments or bankruptcy of the money transaction office.

In the case of money transfers, money transaction offices hold funds or monetary assets owned by customers for short or long periods of time. Therefore, as long as a money transfer has not been fully executed and the amount to be transferred has not yet been paid to the payee, there is a risk that the funds may be lost because the money transfer office concerned has filed for suspension of payments or bankruptcy in the meantime. In order to prevent the money transaction office’s customer from losing their money in such a situation, or to prevent the payee in an uncompleted money transfer from receiving nothing, it is important that a money transaction office performing money transfers in or from the Caribbean Netherlands is required to take adequate measures to secure the funds it has received for the purpose of a money transfer. This requirement applies regardless of the party from which the funds received originate and as long as those funds have not yet been paid or made payable to the payee.

Various methods are conceivable for securing the funds received, such as an unconditional bank guarantee or an equivalent third-party guarantee, or transferring the amount received to a segregated account. It is up to the concerned money transaction office to implement an adequate method of asset separation.

Integrity supervision

We monitor the measures that money transaction offices have taken as part of their operational management to manage integrity risks under the Wfm BES. In addition, we focus on the measures implemented pursuant to the Wwft BES and the Sanctions Act (Sanctiewet 1977 – Sw). These acts apply to money transaction offices operating in the Caribbean Netherlands.

More information on sound and ethical operational management required under the Wfm BES, the Wwft BES and the Sanctions Act can be found here.

News and publications

• Consultation of PEP Good Practices (Wwft BES)

Register

The register includes the licences we have granted under the Wfm BES. In general, financial institutions must have a licence from DNB to operate in the Caribbean Netherlands.

The register was established pursuant to Sections 2:19 and 2:20 of the Wfm BES and Sections 2:12 to 2:14 of the Bfm BES.