Netherlands

According to Merchant Machine, 93% of Dutch had access to the internet in 2021. Of all Dutch using the internet, 94% used the internet for online banking in 2019, which was 28% above the EU average. The Netherlands ranks 4th in the integration of digital technologies and 4th for digital public services among EU countries.

The Netherlands falls under the PSD2 legislation and has adopted STET and Berlin Group’s NextGenPSD2 standard. PSD2 is a European Directive that regulates electronic payment services and was implemented in all EEA countries in 2016 and went live in September 2019.

In their European Open Banking league, Yapily ranked the Netherlands 6 out of 18. Although the Netherlands uses the Berlin Group standard for Open Banking, regulatory supervision is comprehensive. There is also wide-scale adoption of PIS (payment initiation services) amongst the population. However, AIS (account initiation services) has not been as widely adopted, and consumers remain sceptical about its benefits. Whilst the Netherlands boasts a mature payments ecosystem, its inhabitants can be more sceptical about third-party access to financial data. To realise Open Banking’s full potential, the ecosystem needs to work together to drive education on this point. Yapily recommends that the regulator try and open up the market to more TPPs, increasing competition by lowering legislative barriers to entry and doing more work on increasing awareness of the security features of Open Banking.

The EU Commission has announced its intention to adopt an Open Finance regulatory framework.

In the past, large Dutch banks’ API standards could vary significantly, but according to Yapily, the trend is now towards greater connectivity and interoperability.

According to The Global Findex Database, 100% of Dutch adults had bank accounts in 2021. 

Dutch consumers are particularly interested in having their data used to offer a better range or better quality of services. In a recent study researching the Open Banking adoption among consumers, 28% of Dutch consumers were interested in having their data used to offer a better range or better quality of services, and 26% were interested in receiving intelligent assistance to manage payments, as well as having their data used to develop convenient new payment methods.

Particularly the adoption of PIS (payment initiation services) is high among Dutch consumers. However, AIS (account initiation services) has not been as widely adopted, and consumers remain sceptical about its benefits.

According to Yapily, regulatory supervision in the Netherlands is comprehensive.

According to Tracxn, 1,136 Fintechs operated in the Netherlands in 2022. Accenture’s Open Banking Business Survey revealed that 35% of the SMEs and large corporations already participate in Open Banking ecosystem platforms, and another 42% plan to do so by 2019. Their top-two motivations were: gaining access to innovative banking services (27%) and extending their market reach (22%). According to Yapily, the Netherlands is one of the leading hubs for European Fintech innovation, and its digital ecosystem is ripe for Open Banking acceleration.

The Netherlands ranks 2nd in human capital among EU countries in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2022. The human capital measures digital skills, the proportion of employed people working as ICT specialists, female ICT specialists, and enterprises offering ICT training.

The InnovationHub is a joint information desk of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). It provides support to firms that have queries about supervision and regulations relating to innovative financial products and services. The InnovationHub can also be contacted regarding questions for the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

The Netherlands has adopted Berlin Group’s NextGenPSD2 technical standard.