Securities account and the prohibition under Section 3:5 of the Wft

Q&A

Read aloud

Question:

Does the prohibition under Section 3:5 of the Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht – Wft) apply to securities accounts?

Published: 13 August 2015

Answer:

What is a securities account?

Investment firms are required to separate various types of assets. This prevents their customers' financial instruments from becoming part of the estate in the event of bankruptcy. They may do so by setting up a securities account, which is a separate legal entity that administers funds and financial instruments on behalf of the investment firm's customers as its only activity. The conditions that a securities account must meet are listed in Section 7:16 of the Further Regulation on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings (Nadere regeling gedragstoezicht financiële ondernemingen Wft).

Does a securities account involve repayable funds?

Put briefly, repayable funds are defined as deposits or other funds that must be repaid at a certain point in time, for any reason whatsoever, and of which it is clear in advance which nominal sum must be repaid. Under certain circumstances, securities accounts might hold repayable funds, meaning that the prohibition under Section 3:5 of the Wft applies.

Exceptions: advance payments and onward payment

Legislative history shows that some situations do not involve repayable funds. For example, advance payments on specific purchase transactions and specific orders for onward payment do not involve repayable funds, as long as the link to the specific transaction or order exists. More information about onward payments can be found on this page .

Dispensation from the prohibition

DNB may, in individual cases, grant dispensation from the prohibition on attracting repayable funds under Section 3:5(4) of the Wft. The applicant must demonstrate that the interests which the part of the Wft on prudential supervision seeks to protect are sufficiently protected in other ways.

DNB does not grant dispensation to securities accounts, since it does not deem it desirable from a prudential perspective for securities accounts to hold repayable funds. Its viewpoint has been the subject of legal proceedings. The Appeals Board for Trade and Industry, which is the highest administrative court, ruled that DNB reached its opinion on reasonable grounds. The Dutch text of the ruling is available at www.rechtspraak.nl. Its reference number is ECLI:NL:CBB:2015:15.

As a consequence, securities accounts may not hold any repayable funds, given that the prohibition under Section 3:5 of the Wft applies.

Discover related articles

Q&A

Banks

Share:

Share on LinkedIn

Share on X

Share on Facebook

Share via Email

Interesting articles

Prudential rules do not hinder bank financing for EU priorities

17 July 2026

News item supervision

Europe faces historic investment challenges, in which banks will play an important financing role. Prudential requirements strengthen banks’ resilience, without posing a major obstacle to their financing. Unlocking more private finance requires better risk-sharing and deeper financial integration.

Read more
Prudential rules do not hinder bank financing for EU priorities

News item supervision

17 July 2026

DNB Inhouse Day for the Dutch banking sector: financial crime supervision

16 July 2026

News item supervision

Following last year’s successful event, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) will again host an Inhouse Day for AML/CFT professionals in the Dutch banking sector. The event is designed to encourage dialogue and provide further insight into DNB’s AML/CFT supervision.

Read more
DNB Inhouse Day for the Dutch banking sector: financial crime supervision

News item supervision

16 July 2026

Fine for ABN AMRO Bank N.V. for inadequate customer due diligence for high-risk customers

09 July 2026

Enforcement measures

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) imposed an administrative fine of €8.5 million on ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (ABN AMRO) on 6 July 2026 due to serious shortcomings in its anti-money laundering controls in the period from September 2023 through September 2024.

Read more
Fine for ABN AMRO Bank N.V. for inadequate customer due diligence for high-risk customers

Enforcement measures

09 July 2026

De Nederlandsche Bank publishes ‘Integrity Supervision in Focus 2026’

25 June 2026

News item supervision

In the third edition of ‘Integrity Supervision in Focus’ (ISF), we share the key insights from our integrity supervision.

Read more
De Nederlandsche Bank publishes ‘Integrity Supervision in Focus 2026’

News item supervision

25 June 2026

Necessary cookies

To ensure the proper operation of the website, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) uses functional cookies and analytics cookies, and has taken measures to ensure that these cookies have little or no impact on the privacy of website users.

Optional cookies

Some pages include embedded content from external websites. These websites may use proprietary (tracking) cookies. This allows third parties to track visitor statistics, show personalised content and display targeted ads, for example.

You can make your choice about allowing these optional cookies both when you first visit the website and when you navigate to a page with embedded content.