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Duty of clearing institutions to obtain authorisation

Factsheet

Section 2:4(1) of the Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht / Wft) provides that no entity with its registered office in the Netherlands may carry on the business of a clearing institution without an authorisation granted by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). Section 2:6(1) of the Wft states that a Netherlands-based branch of a clearing institution with its registered office outside the Netherlands may not carry on its business without an authorisation granted by DNB.

Published: 01 January 2007

Scope

The definition of a clearing institution in the Wft is as follows: the party which business it is to conclude contracts regarding financial instruments with a central counter party that acts as an exclusive counter party in respect of these contracts, of which the provisions indicating the essence of the performance correspond to the provisions forming party of contracts concluded by third parties or by the party itself in its capacity as a party to the contract, on a market in financial instruments and which indicate the essence of the performance in the latter contracts.

Duty to obtain authorisation – exceptions

The duty to obtain authorisation in Section 2:4(1) of the Wft does not apply to a clearing institution which:

  • has its registered office in the Netherlands and has a banking licence; or
  • has its registered office in another member state, has a banking licence granted by the supervisory authority in that member state and wishes to carry on the business of a clearing institution from a Netherlands-based branch, or
  • has its registered office in a state designated by the Minister of Finance and wishes to carry on the business of a clearing institution from a Netherlands-based branch.

Notification requirement

Clearing institutions with their registered office outside theNetherlandsthat wish to carry on the business of a clearing institution by providing services to the Netherlands may not do so unless they inform DNB of their intention of being active in the Netherlands. Services are assumed to be provided only when they are offered in theNetherlandson a recognized market in financial instruments.

Designated state

The Dutch Minister of Finance has listed, in the order on Designated States (Besluit aangewezen staten, those states in which the supervision exercised over clearing institutions offers sufficient safeguarding of the interests protected by the Wft.)

These states are:

  • Australia,
  • Belgium,
  • Canada,
  • Denmark,
  • Finland,
  • France,
  • Germany,
  • Hungary,
  • Italy,
  • Japan,
  • Portugal,
  • Spain,
  • Sweden,
  • Switzerland,
  • the United Kingdom
  • United States of America

Please note that if in a certain state an investment firm is subject to supervision (and is therefore authorised to carry on the business of a clearing institution), the designation will only apply if the investment firm has an authorisation which covers the activities referred to in Section 1:1 in the definition of ‘providing an investment service’, part c., d. or f. This refers to the following services respectively: proprietary trading, investment account and market-making.

Summary of authorisation and notification requirements

You can swipe the table to see more columns.

Time period

Applications for an authorisation to carry on the business of a clearing institution must be addressed to DNB. DNB will decide on each application within thirteen weeks of its receipt it. This time period can be extended if further information or details are required to supplement the application.

Fee

A fee is charged for the handling of an application for an authorisation or exception.

Submitting documents

You can submit the application form with the accompanying documents to:

De Nederlandsche Bank N.V.
Market Access Expertise Centre
PO Box 98
1000 AB AMSTERDAM
Telephone: DNB Information Desk + 31 30 524 9111

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