Wwft

Wwft stands for the Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme, the Dutch anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing act. It establishes obligations for a broad range of entities to prevent abuse of the Dutch financial system and to detect and report suspicious activity. The act is designed to impose a risk-based framework that helps identify, assess, and mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

The scope of the Wwft covers financial institutions and a number of designated non-financial sectors. This includes banks, insurance companies, investment firms, payment service providers, trust offices, notaries and lawyers, tax advisers, real estate agents, and dealers in high-value goods, among others. Obliged entities must implement customer due diligence (CDD) and, for higher-risk situations or customers, enhanced due diligence (EDD). They are required to perform ongoing monitoring of business relationships, maintain risk assessments and internal controls, appoint compliance officers, provide staff training, and keep records for a minimum of about five years.

A central element of the Wwft is the obligation to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit Netherlands (FIU-Nederland). Such reports, known as suspicious transaction reports, are confidential, and tipping off is prohibited. The act is enforced by supervisory authorities such as the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) and the Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) for financial-sector entities, with other authorities supervising designated professionals. Non-compliance can lead to sanctions, fines, or other enforcement actions.

The Wwft aligns with EU anti-money laundering directives and is periodically updated to reflect evolving risks and international standards.