Initial assessment – the assessment procedure step by step

Receipt of application

The assessment procedure begins with the receipt of your application through Supervisory applications on My DNB. We will then check the application and any annexes for completeness. Should the application prove to be incomplete, we ask that you supplement it within the next two weeks.

Preliminary assessment

Once the assessment procedure has started, our Expert Centre on Fit & Proper Assessments performs a preliminary assessment. Based on the data in your application, we establish whether the candidate has the appropriate knowledge and experience, matches the job profile and fits in with the collective body of the management and supervisory board. We also consult public and non-public sources, such as the Tax and Customs Administration, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), the Public Prosecution Service, the Chamber of Commerce, and Graydon, which is a private company supplying corporate information.

In addition, we may source information from national and international financial supervisory authorities and criminal law authorities, and check references. As we do not always contact referees to check references, we would advise you to inform your referees beforehand that we might not contact them. Last but not least, we use information on circumstances and challenges facing the institution that we gather from our ongoing supervision practices, and any information we have collected about the candidate in previous positions.

Assessment interview

If the picture emerging from our preliminary assessment is sufficiently clear, we may issue a positive decision without arranging an interview. If this is not the case, we will invite the candidate for an assessment interview. We may also wish to invite them because of the importance of the position or the situation at the institution in question.

During the interview, we will discuss the candidate's expertise, experience and competences, as well as their knowledge of the institution, the composition of the management or supervisory board and its functioning. We have found that interviews typically go better if candidates come well-prepared.

Decision-making

Based on our assessment (and possibly one or more interviews) DNB will issue a provisional decision about the candidate’s fitness and/or propriety, or reputation as soon as possible. Significant banks must also take into account the procedures prescribed by the ECB. We cooperate with the AFM for assessments relating to institutions that are subject to both our and the AFM's supervision. See Initial assessment - cooperation between DNB and the AFM in assessments.

A candidate can be appointed and work in a policy-making capacity once we have issued a positive decision. We first contact the candidate and the institution by telephone to inform them of our positive decision, and we subsequently send them a written confirmation. If no assessment interview has taken place, the candidate and company will only be informed in writing.

If we intend to issue a negative decision, we will inform the candidate in writing of our intention to issue a provisional negative decision and contact them by telephone to explain our findings and conclusions. The candidate and the institution may present a statement of views in response to the provisional decision. If we decide to uphold our negative decision, they will have the option to object and appeal successively.