NETHERLANDS Trends and Developments Contributed by: Juliet de Graaf and Johannes de Jong, Osborne Clarke N.V.
The trend towards using smartphones for online shopping is also expected to gain further momentum in 2025. 2023 and 2024 have shown a shift towards more mobile-centric consumer behaviour in the Netherlands. Despite this digi - tal inclination, a notable number of consumers still showed a preference for in-store shopping, slightly moving away from the online shopping trend seen during the pandemic. The DNB Payments Strategy 2022-2025 outlines several key actions for banks that are relevant in 2025. Broadly, these actions are aimed at enhancing the accessibility and reliability of pay - ment services in the Netherlands. For instance, the DNB calls for banks to improve personal ser - vice for customers and enhance communication, particularly for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those with functional impairments. Additionally, banks are expected to participate in the Cash Covenant to ensure the availabil- ity of cash. These actions are part of the DNB’s broader goals to maintain a robust and secure payment system in the digital age. Since the summer of 2022, Dutch payment insti - tutions, electronic money institutions, investment firms, and settlement firms, have been allowed to use a dedicated segregated account to meet the obligation of safeguarding client funds. This change was part of the Financial Markets Amendment Act 2022, with early implementa - tion chosen due to its practical necessity and absence of new obligations on businesses with further details on how to comply with this new safeguarding option deferred to 2023 or later. Unfortunately, these further details have not yet been provided by the legislature, the DNB or the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets ( Autoriteit financiele markten , AFM) in 2024.
As a result, Dutch-licensed banks have been reluctant to offer these new accounts, leaving the market with little choice but to safeguard cli - ent funds in the traditional Dutch way in a sepa - rate legal entity (third-party fund foundation). This is generally considered an overly complex and innovation-hampering safeguarding solu - tion. Market in Crypto-Asset Regulation MiCAR is set to bring about a transformative shift in the EU cryptocurrency landscape after its applicability date at the end of 2024. MiCAR aims to provide a comprehensive set of rules for the crypto-assets market, addressing concerns around consumer protection, market integrity, and financial stability. More concretely, MiCAR encompasses ten key services, focusing on the regulation and over - sight of crypto-assets and related activities. These services include the issuance and trading of crypto-assets, operating as a trading platform for these assets, and providing wallet services for secure storage and transfer of crypto-assets. They also cover advice and management ser - vices related to crypto-assets, managing and executing orders on behalf of clients, and under - writing or placing crypto-assets on a firm com - mitment basis. Additionally, MiCAR governs the operation of an exchange where crypto-assets can be exchanged for fiat currencies, and the custody and administration of these assets. In some jurisdictions, for instance Germany, banks are expected by the regulator to act as custodians under MiCAR by providing wal - let services for secure storage and transfer of crypto-assets. No such development has been identified for the Netherlands, even though the EU legislature clearly has envisioned a large role for banks under MiCAR. Not least because
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