About the FIU

Pursuant to the Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft), FIU-the Netherlands is the organization to which entities with an obligation to report should report unusual transactions. With its analysis of reported unusual transactions, FIU-the Netherlands uncovers money flows that can be linked to money laundering, the financing of terrorism, or underlying crimes. After the transactions have been declared suspicious by the head of the FIU-the Netherlands, they are put at the disposal of various law enforcement and investigative services.

FIU-the Netherlands’ financial intelligence contributes significantly to the national and international fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism. To be effective, an international approach and effective cooperation with national partners is key.

Money laundering and financing of terrorism are cross-border problems that can only be tackled effectively in an international setting. Binding agreements are made about the approach to these problems within the European Union and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Dutch legislation is also based on these European directives and intergovernmental obligations. With the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft), the Netherlands has co-implemented the European Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive from 2015. This Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/849) builds on existing EU legislation, simultaneously taking account of the FATF’s ‘forty recommendations’. In 2018, an amendment to the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. The Netherlands and the other Member States must have implemented the obligations arising from this new directive in 2020 at the latest.