T    +31 (0)20 767 01 80
T    +31 (0)20 767 01 84  (direct)
M   +31 (0)6 21 66 37 76
laurens.hillen@finnius.com

Laurens Hillen

Counsel

Laurens is a litigator and advisor specialising in financial regulatory law.

In the litigation practice, Laurens assists a wide range of national and international financial institutions – such as banks, investment firms, fund managers and crypto service providers – in various disputes with regulators AFM and DNB. Such proceedings require specialist knowledge of both the substantive supervisory rules and administrative law. Laurens is able to combine these two worlds and thus achieve excellent results. In recent years, he has been involved in several landmark and high-profile cases, including the AML case brought by a Dutch neobank against DNB, the fit and proper assesment case against DNB brought by the founders of what was then the largest Dutch online broker, and the Whc and revision proceedings brought by a Dutch investment company against the AFM.

In addition, Laurens advises financial institutions on the interpretation and application of current and upcoming regulatory law. He has a specific focus on investment services and related regulations such as MiFID II/MiFIR, DORA, MAR, MiCAR and the Wwft. He also regularly advises on the legal obligations regarding screenings of board members, antecedents, incidents and outsourcing.

Laurens regularly lectures and publishes on Dutch and European developments in his field.

Prior to joining Finnius, Laurens worked as a lawyer at NautaDutilh’s financial law and financial litigation department (2015-2020). He graduated from Leiden University in 2015, where he obtained a master’s degree in both Financial Law and  Corporate Law. Laurens is admitted to the Amsterdam Bar and a member of the Dutch Association of Financial Law.

  • Advising on MiFID II / MiFIR
  • Advising on DORA, the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), MiCAR and AML
  • Advising on a wide range of Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wft) issues, such as suitability and integrity assessments, antecedents, incidents and outsourcing
  • Providing assistance to institutions during investigations by the AFM/DNB
  • Providing assistance to institutions in relation to (intended) sanctions by the AFM/DNB, such as fines, instructions and orders subject to penalty payment. This includes, amongst other things, the following areas:
    • the Wft, such as the requirements for sound and controlled business operations, advertising, the reporting of incidents, the appointment of new board members and financial reporting
    • AML
    • MAR
    • MiFID II/MiFIR
    • Consumer Protection Enforcement Act (Whc) / Unfair Commercial Practices Act (Wet Ohp)
    • the publication of sanctions
  • Providing assistance to board members in connection with (re)assessments by the AFM/DNB
  • Providing assistance to institutions on Open Government Act (Woo) issues
  • Assisting institutions in civil law (duty of care) disputes and Kifid proceedings

Laurens Hillen has registered Financial Law as his principal legal practice area in the Netherlands Bar’s register of legal practice areas (rechtsgebiedenregister).

Based on this registration, Laurens is required to obtain ten training credits per calendar year in this registered legal practice area in accordance with the standards set by the Netherlands Bar.