Which legislation and regulation has recently entered into force?
On 9 April 2026, the AFM published the updated Mortgage Advice Guidelines 2026, replacing the previous version. The revised guidance provides mortgage advisers with updated practical guidance on delivering suitable advice, placing greater emphasis on the adviser's independent role, asking follow-up questions where inconsistencies arise, applying proportionality, considering sustainability, and addressing relationship breakdowns.
On 29 May 2026, the Implementation Act amending the AIFM Directive and the UCITS Directive entered into force. This implements Directive (EU) 2024/927 (AIFMD II) into the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht – Wft). The amendments concern, among other things, delegation arrangements, liquidity risk management, depositaries, and loan origination by alternative investment funds. The revised supervisory reporting requirements will enter into force on a different date, namely 16 April 2027.
On 25 June 2026, the Implementation Act and the Implementation Decree for the Distance Marketing Directiveentered into force. As a result, financial institutions offering financial services online or through distance channels must comply with enhanced requirements relating to consumer information, withdrawal rights, and the design of digital sales processes. These obligations apply in addition to existing sector-specific legislation.
Amendments to MiFID II retail investor protection rules (Retail Investment Strategy)
Applies to: Investment firms and managers of alternative investment funds (AIFs) and UCITS providing investment services to retail investors.
Retail participation in EU capital markets remains significantly lower than in other major economies. In 2021, only around 17% of EU household assets were invested in financial instruments (including listed shares, bonds, investment funds and derivatives), compared with 43% in the United States. Contributing factors include limited access to information, low investor confidence in capital markets, relatively high costs for retail investors, and misleading marketing practices on social media.
The Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) aims to enable retail investors to make better-informed investment decisions that more closely match their investment needs and objectives. The package introduces amendments across several legislative frameworks, including MiFID II, AIFMD, the UCITS Directive, and the PRIIPs Regulation.
Under the proposals, investment firms will be required to identify and quantify all costs and charges borne by investors and assess whether these are proportionate. Investment products with total costs that cannot be objectively justified may no longer be approved for distribution.
The transparency of product disclosures will also be enhanced. The Key Information Document (KID) will be revised to provide clearer information on costs, risks and expected returns. In the longer term, this information must also be made available in a machine-readable format.
The rules governing inducements will also be tightened in order to reduce conflicts of interest. Advisers will be subject to an explicit obligation to demonstrate that they are acting in the client's best interests, while inducement-related costs must be disclosed separately. At the same time, the suitability assessment for advice on diversified, non-complex and cost-efficient investment products will be simplified by removing the requirement to assess the client's knowledge and experience. Finally, the criteria for the opt-up of retail clients to professional client status will be amended, allowing experienced investors to qualify more easily.
The current objective is to finalise the legislative texts by the end of 2026, with the new rules applying no later than 30 months after publication.
International Sanctions Measures Act
Applies to: All institutions falling within the scope of the Dutch Sanctions Act 1977.
Since July 2023, the Dutch government has been working to modernise the national sanctions framework to better align it with European sanctions legislation and to improve the effectiveness of supervision and enforcement.
The proposed International Sanctions Measures Act introduces several important changes, including:
- Modernising the legal basis for implementing international sanctions and clarifying how the Netherlands gives effect to them.
- Introducing administrative enforcement for breaches of sanctions, alongside existing criminal enforcement.
- Granting specific enforcement powers in cases of serious non-compliance or sanctions circumvention.
- Allowing the management and administration of assets and economic resources that remain frozen for extended periods.
- Creating a legal basis for linking sanctions information to various public registers.
- Improving information sharing between competent authorities, including supervisors and enforcement agencies.
- Establishing a central sanctions reporting office.
- Expanding governance and compliance supervision to include legal professions such as lawyers, civil-law notaries and accountants.
The bill was submitted to the Dutch House of Representatives on 19 February 2026 and is currently under parliamentary consideration. It is expected to enter into force in mid-2027.
In addition, on 15 April 2026, the Minister of Foreign Affairs launched a public consultation on a second legislative package. This second tranche focuses specifically on the internal governance and compliance processes of institutions. Where possible, these requirements will be aligned with those arising from the European Anti-Money Laundering Package.
Financial institutions already subject to that package will therefore not be required to implement additional measures under the second tranche. However, this exemption does not apply to non-life insurers and pension funds, which will rely entirely on this new legislation.
The intention is for these changes to coincide with the application of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR)and Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6) in July 2027, thereby reducing the number of separate implementation milestones for institutions.
Revised Guidelines on the Suitability Assessment of Members of the Management Body and Key Function Holders
Applies to: Banks and investment firms.
Between 25 February and 25 May 2026, ESMA and the EBA conducted a public consultation on revised joint guidelines introducing new requirements arising from the revised Capital Requirements Directive (CRD). These guidelines will replace the existing joint EBA/ESMA Guidelines of 2 July 2021.
The principal changes include:
- A significant expansion of the scope of application. The guidelines will apply to all institutions, investment firms and third-country branches, requiring a comprehensive suitability assessment of all key function holders, rather than only members of the management body and a limited number of key positions. Key function holders are individuals who exercise significant influence over the management of an institution without being members of the management body, including the heads of internal control functions and the Chief Financial Officer where they are not members of the management body.
- Institutions will be required to explicitly consider ESG, AI/ICT, and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) risks when carrying out suitability assessments. In this respect, the revised guidelines go considerably further than the previous version.
- For AML/CFT, institutions must assess explicit and detailed risk factors, including sectoral risks, business relationships, geographical risks and links to sanctions lists. At least one member of the management body must possess specific expertise in AML/CFT risks and regulatory obligations. Supervisors must also reassess suitability whenever there are reasonable grounds to suspect AML/CFT risks, in consultation with the relevant AML/CFT supervisory authorities.
- The requirements relating to independence and diversity will be strengthened, including the introduction of a cooling-off period for former executive directors before they may assume supervisory positions. Diversity and gender balance requirements will become more detailed and prescriptive, requiring institutions to demonstrate active management of board composition.
- Training requirements for members of the management body and key function holders will become more demanding. Institutions must allocate sufficient resources and expand mandatory training programmes to include ESG, AML/CFT, ICT and AI-related risks.
The revised guidelines are expected to enter into force six months after publication of the final text, with 31 December 2026 currently envisaged as the implementation deadline.
Looking ahead
Which upcoming legislative and regulatory developments should organisations prepare for?
In our next Regulatory Update article, we will take a closer look at, among other developments:
- The European Listing Act framework;
- Secondary legislation implementing the revised AIFMD and UCITS Directive; and
- Secondary legislation under the AMLR, AMLD6 and AMLAR.
