The following is an excerpt from the DNB’s (Dutch Central Bank) website to provide a short description as to their duty as a regulatory supervisor to the financial sector in The Netherlands;

‘Financial stability is the common theme uniting the duties and activities of the Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). DNB’s mission statement defines this as follows: ‘The mission of the Nederlandsche Bank is to aim for stability in the financial system and the institutions that make up that system’.

In order to achieve its objective, DNB:
- contributes to defining and implementing the single monetary policy of the countries which have introduced the euro;
- promotes the smooth operation of the payments system, and;
- supervises financial institutions and the financial sector.
Other duties
These three areas of responsibility are supported by academic economic research, based partly on the statistical information that DNB itself collects. This research also contributes to DNB’s role as independent economic advisor to the government.

DNB is also involved in reinsuring the political and commercial risks of the Dutch State. These are risks associated with export financing, project financing and foreign direct investment. DNB also helps foreign central banks, especially those in the former Eastern Bloc, to increase their expertise and so enhance financial stability.

Statutory framework

DNB’s duties are set out in the 1998 Bank Act, The 1993 Insurance Business Supervision Act, the Prepaid Funeral Services Insurance Business Supervision Act and the Pensions and Savings Funds Act. The various supervisory acts are expected to be subsumed into a single Financial Supervision Act in 2005.
Other duties assigned to DNB and relating to the payment system and monetary policy arise from the Treaty establishing the European Community (Treaty of Rome, 1958) and the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty, 1992). Some of the decisions on these duties are made within the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), which DNB is a part of. DNB’s payment system and monetary policy duties are known as ‘system duties’. System duties are performed independently of governments or institutions such as the European Union. DNB performs its supervision and duties in the area of export and import guarantees as an autonomous administrative authority.
Supervision is moving with the times

DNB’s supervisory duties in particular are currently undergoing far-reaching changes. In early 2002, supervision of the Dutch financial sector was divided between into ‘prudential supervision’ (monitoring the health of financial institutions) and ‘conduct of business supervision’ (assessing the actions of players in the financial markets). In the context of this fundamental change, the two prudential supervisors, DNB and the Pensions and Insurance Supervisory Authority of the Netherlands (Pensioen- en Verzekeringskamer), have been merged under the name of De Nederlandsche Bank. The other financial sector supervisor, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten), is responsible for conduct of business supervision. The new model of financial supervision is to be regulated by a single unifying Financial Supervision Act as of 2005.’