Consultation DNB Wwft Q&As and Good Practices

With this Q&As/Good Practices document, DNB aims to offer financial institutions more information about their legal obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme – Wwft).

This document replaces the previously published ‘DNB Leidraad Wwft en Sw’ (in English: Guideline on the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act and the Sanctions Act) (hereafter: ‘leidraad’), with the exception of the sections on the Sanctions Act (Sanctiewet – Sw). It’s important to emphasize that the Q&As/Good Practices only focuses on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations, which are primarily laid down in the Wwft. The section concerning the Sw that is currently included in the 'leidraad' will be re-published in a separate document, pending the new legal framework.

In addition to the Q&A’s/Good Practices, a second document has been added to this page which covers questions such as ‘What is the difference between the ‘DNB Leidraad Wwft en Sw’ and the new ‘DNB Wwft Q&As and Good Practices?’’

Respond?

You can respond until November 30th. Furthermore, we would like to present the following consultation questions to you:

1. The Wwft should be approached in a risk-based manner. It is up to the financial institutions themselves to give a risk-based interpretation to these legal obligations, where there is room for interpretation. With the Q&As/Good Practices DNB aims to provide guidance for this risk-based interpretation. Do the Q&As/Good Practices provide sufficient guidance for this risk-based approach. Are there elements to this guidance document that (unnecessarily) obstruct a risk based interpretation from a legal point of view? Are there elements to the guidance that lead to non-risk-based burdens on clients without there being a legal necessity? Conversely, are there elements that fil to adequately address high risks?
   
   
2. Subjects that are being covered by the Q&As/Good Practices and the extent to which they are covered, are based on questions that DNB encounters in our daily supervision. Are there topics that have not been addressed or inadequately covered?
   
   
3. DNB adopts an entire new structure with the Q&As and Good Practices, including flowcharts. Are there any points of improvement regarding the document’s structure and flowcharts?
   
   
4. The Wwft allows outsourcing to third parties for certain parts of the client due diligence. The Wwft doesn’t mention ongoing due diligence and transaction monitoring. In practice, DNB observes outsourcing arrangement that place transaction monitoring within (a single entity of) the group (intra-group outsourcing). DNB observes at the same time developments in the area of anti-money laundering legislation, in particular regarding the upcoming EU anti-money laundering legislation, concerning outsourcing. Therefore, DNB will further establish policy on intra-group outsourcing of transaction monitoring. Are there any relevant factors or circumstances that DNB in the policy shaping stage?

Responses on this consultation can be sent to DNB through the e-mail address consultatie@dnb.nl. Please include ‘DNB Wwft Q&As and Good Practices’ in the subject line. If you give us your written consent, we will publish your consultation response including your name and/or function. Without your written consent, we will only publish the content of your reaction and, where applicable, the name of your organization. Thus without your name and/or function. You can revoke your consent at any time by e-mailing consultatie@dnb.nl though it does not alter the legality of the publication of your name and/or function in the period leading up to the moment that the consent has been revoked.

For more information regarding the processing of your personal data by DNB and your rights under the GDPR please view our privacy note.

English translation

This document is consulted in both Dutch and English, in case of any discrepancies or interpretation differences between the documents, the Dutch text prevails. Also, the layout of the English consultation document was updated to resemble the Dutch version. The wording did not change.

Adoption and publication of policy statement

After receipt, weighing and processing of the consultation responses DNB will decide on the adoption and publication of the final version of the consulted policy statement. DNB will communicate on the outcomes of this consultation through dnb.nl, including a feedback statement in which DNB (on an aggregated level) responds to the consultation responses. DNB will publish the content of the consultation responses on the website of DNB including the name of the organization where applicable. In case written consent is given, DNB shall publish the consultation responses including name and/or function.