Last week, Finance Minister Hoekstra submitted an amended bill to implement the PSD II Directive into Dutch law. Amended, because the original bill dates back to October 2017. This makes the Netherlands much too late, as PSD II should have been in force in all EU countries by January 13 at the latest.
Author: Tomas Weermeijer
If the PSD II Directive applies in the Netherlands, service providers can apply for a license to provide, among other things, "account information services." Providers with such a license will be given access to a bank account holder's account information upon consent. Banks are required to cooperate with such a request. As you understand, this has the necessary impact on the monopoly on account information that banks now have.
One of the reasons that implementation of PSD II is taking a long time is - how could it be otherwise - privacy. De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) will basically be the watchdog overseeing PSD II compliance. Much of that oversight is about privacy (something to do with consent and sensitive payment information), but DNB also wanted to take care of that part. The Personal Data Authority (AP) did not like this fragmentation of privacy supervision, which is not incomprehensible. This concern of the AP has been addressed in the new bill: supervision of privacy aspects of PSD II will be assigned to AP.
The day after the new bill was sent out, DNB opened registration for new entrants. From June 20, parties who want to provide PSDII services can submit a draft license application. Pending final agreement on the implementation bill, DNB is already starting to assess the draft applications.
So we are not there yet, but the day that PSD II will apply in the Netherlands is approaching. With the division of compliance supervision, the last hard nut has been cracked. Now we just need an agreement from the Lower and Upper Houses, and then we are there. I don't expect any further discussion in the Senate, but when the bill will be debated is not yet known. Please be patient (yet).
This article can also be found in the PSD2 dossier
