Wwft

The Wwft is the Dutch AML law (anti-money-laundering act), requiring customer due diligence (CDD/KYC); digital identity enables secure remote onboarding.

The Wwft (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme) is the Dutch anti-money-laundering act, implementing the EU AML directives. Institutions in scope - banks, notaries, accountants, trust offices and others - must perform customer due diligence (CDD/KYC), apply a risk-based approach (simplified due diligence for low-risk clients, enhanced due diligence for PEPs and clients linked to high-risk third countries), monitor transactions and report unusual transactions - identified via objective or subjective indicators - to FIU-Nederland, which decides which of these become suspicious. Compliance is supervised by regulators such as DNB, AFM, BFT and, since 1 January 2026, the Dienst Financieel-Economische Integriteit (DFEI), depending on the sector. DFEI took over the work of the Bureau Toezicht Wwft and the Bureau Economische Handhaving and sits under the ministry of Finance rather than the Tax Administration, and non-compliance can lead to administrative fines or, in serious cases, criminal enforcement.

The link with trust services: reliable identity verification is the first step of CDD. High-assurance digital identification (an eID at level substantial or high, a qualified certificate, or soon the EUDI Wallet) lets Wwft institutions onboard clients remotely with strong evidence.