Wwft
The Wwft is a central pillar of compliance legislation. Organizations that fall under this law are required to conduct customer due diligence, record risks, and report unusual transactions.
What is the Wwft?
Wwft stands for the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act and has been in force since 2008. This law is intended to make it more difficult for criminals to launder their money and for anyone involved in money flows or expensive purchases. The law applies to lenders, but also to real estate agencies and luxury jewelers.
What does the Wwft mean for my company?
If your company falls under the Wwft, there are several things you are obligated to do. The first of these is an investigation into your customers. This is known as the Wwft check, but also as customer due diligence investigation or Know Your Customer (KYC) check. Additionally, you are also required to report unusual transactions to the FIU-NL (Financial Intelligence Unit Netherlands).
Conducting a Wwft check
When researching your potential customers (companies or individuals), you look at the likelihood that a customer is laundering money or possibly financing terrorism. As a service provider, you must be able to assess these risks. If you are unable to do so, you may not provide services to the customer. According to the government website, you must establish the following in any case:
- The identity of the customer
- If the customer is representing someone else, you must be able to determine whether this is legal.
- The ultimate beneficiary of the customer (the UBO)
- The customer's goal
- Gaining insight into customer transactions and continuing to monitor them
When is an extensive Wwft check mandatory?
A Wwft check is mandatory for every new customer who approaches you. Additionally, you can also do this when there is doubt about whether the customer is providing the correct data, but also if there is a risk that the customer is laundering money or financing terrorism. You must always conduct a Wwft check when a customer makes one or more transactions totaling at least €15,000.
Unusual transactions and the Wwft
Control over the Wwft
Because the Wwft is a comprehensive law that many types of companies must comply with, there is a supervisory authority for each sector that enforces the Wwft. The government uses the following list:
| Supervising Authority | Industry |
|---|---|
| Tax and Customs Administration/Wwft Supervisory Authority | Real estate agents, appraisers, traders, pawnshops, and post address providers |
| The Dutch Central Bank | Banks, credit institutions, payment service providers (e.g., Adyen), exchange offices, electronic money institutions, life insurers, trust offices, payment service agents, crypto providers |
| The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets | Investment firms, investment funds, financial service providers issuing life insurance |
| Financial Supervision Authority | Accountants, tax advisors, notaries, and similar businesses |
| The Dutch Bar Association | Lawyers |
| Gambling Authority | Gamlbing providers such as (online) casinos |
Wwft Implementation Decree
This implementing decision clarifies definitions and adds rules regarding reliability and integrity in business operations.
The full implementing decision can be consulted here.
Wwft is part of Compliance Management. Read more about this on our Compliance page.
