AFM Netherlands

The registers of the AFM hold its licenses, notifications and exemptions, and a search covers all registers at once or one register at a time. The license registers include lists for crypto-asset service providers, investment institutions, alternative investment fund managers and audit firms.

The notification registers list the issued capital, the substantial holdings and the directors and supervisory board members of listed companies. An update service sends a daily e-mail with the changes to these three registers from Tuesday to Saturday, and a link leads to the separate public register of De Nederlandsche Bank.

The AFM keeps a warning list of firms that it suspects of fraud or of working without a license, and it asks consumers to check every provider for an AFM license before they do business. The AFM estimates the losses from investment fraud in the Netherlands at about 750 million euros a year, and it receives reports of online or telephone scams every day. Scammers also misuse the telephone number of the AFM itself, which its contact page warns about.

As the authority for MiCAR in the Netherlands, the AFM decides on license applications under Article 63 and receives notifications under Article 60. Its pages for crypto firms publish the procedure, the forms and the register of Dutch providers. The Netherlands chose a transitional period of only six months, so firms registered with De Nederlandsche Bank needed a MiCAR license by the end of June 2025.

The European company of MoonPay, BitStaete and Zebedee Europe received their licenses on 30 December 2024, the first day of the rules. The ESMA register of 16 October 2026 lists 29 Dutch entries, 22 licenses and seven notifications, and Bitvavo received its license on 26 June 2025. In September 2026 the AFM published a non-paper with its view on the evaluation of MiCAR.

The Netherlands splits financial supervision between two authorities: the AFM watches how firms treat clients and markets, while De Nederlandsche Bank supervises the solidity of banks, insurers and pension funds. Before MiCAR, crypto firms registered with De Nederlandsche Bank under the anti-money laundering law, and since then their license comes from the AFM.

The AFM also supervises audit firms and the financial reporting of listed companies, and on its executive board Richard Doornbosch is responsible for the supervision of auditors.

Laura van Geest chairs the executive board of the AFM and began her second four-year term on 1 February 2024. From 1 September 2026 the board consists of Laura van Geest, Hanzo van Beusekom, Marije Lely and Richard Doornbosch, after Jos Heuvelman left. Hanzo van Beusekom has been responsible for the supervision of retail markets and asset management since that date.

The AFM has its offices at Vijzelgracht 50 in 1017 HS Amsterdam, with the entrance to the parking garage at Nieuwe Weteringstraat 5. Letters go to Autoriteit Financiële Markten, Postbus 11723, 1001 GS Amsterdam, and questions about crypto supervision go to crypto@afm.nl.