Judgment in landmark case between bunq and the Dutch Central Bank

On October 18, 2022, the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb) issued an important ruling in a case brought by bunq against DNB concerning the application of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (Wwft).

Among other things, DNB was of the opinion in this case that bunq incorrectly determined the purpose and nature of the business relationship. DNB also found that bunq’s transaction monitoring process did not comply with the Wwft. Bunq uses innovative methods in both areas. The CBb ruled that the Wwft does not prescribe exactly how the customer due diligence should be conducted, and that bunq’s methods for establishing purpose and nature and monitoring customer transactions are in compliance with the Wwft.

Furthermore, the CBb ruled that DNB was not allowed to oblige bunq to have the follow-up to the instruction (“aanwijzing”) validated internally or externally. Nor may DNB require the board of bunq to issue a statement stating that the instruction has been complied with. The CBb stated that imposing such far-reaching obligations is subject to high standards and that those obligations must be proportionate to the objective to be achieved. DNB had not sufficiently demonstrated this.

The Finnius team that assisted bunq in this case consists of Guido Roth, Casper Riekerk and Laurens Hillen.

The judgment is widely covered in Dutch media, see for example the articles in the Dutch Financial Times, NOS, nu.nl and De Telegraaf. The judgment itself and the press release from the CBb can be found here (in Dutch).