Wopke Hoekstra
THE HAGUE--On Tuesday, Dutch Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra announced that he is preparing a law change to enable Dutch commercial banks to offer current accounts to residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba without an additional permit.
Under the existing financial markets law, Dutch banks cannot offer euro current accounts in the Caribbean Netherlands without an additional permit. This hampers residents on the three islands, which are part of the Netherlands, from having a Dutch bank account.
In response to written questions submitted by (then) Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Antje Diertens of Democratic Party D66, Minister Hoekstra explained that last year, he engaged in talks with the Dutch banking sector to remove obstacles that are now experienced in offering banking services in the Caribbean Netherlands.
As a result of these talks, the minister is now preparing a legislation change so Dutch banks can offer current accounts in euros to residents of the islands. Hoekstra said he found it important that Caribbean Netherlands residents had access to a minimum level of banking services, including transactions with the Netherlands.
The minister stated that this minimum level was currently present on the islands, although residents have to use local banks and pay additional costs for sending funds to the Netherlands.
According to Hoekstra, Dutch banks not only encounter legal obstructions in offering current accounts in euros to the islands’ residents, but they also face practical issues such as the lack of a postal code and a citizen service number BSN in the Caribbean Netherlands, as well as identifying clients from a distance.
“A first estimate of the Dutch Central Bank DNB and the Caribbean Netherlands Tax Office offered sufficient perspective to remove these practical obstructions. Despite that, the banks came to the conclusion that providing service in the Caribbean Netherlands was too costly or did not fit in the bank’s policy,” stated Hoekstra.
The minister noted that this made banking with the Netherlands hard for residents of the islands, and that as a result, he would resume talks with the banks about the “undesirable consequences of this situation” for Caribbean Netherlands inhabitants. He said he would point out that the obstruction in the law would be removed.
Member of Parliament (MP) Diertens, who departed the Second Chamber on Tuesday, had specifically enquired about reports that the ABN AMRO Bank has plans to terminate existing current accounts of residents and companies in the Caribbean Netherlands. Diertens wanted to know what this meant for the availability of services of Dutch banks for the islands’ residents.
Hoekstra stated that together with State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops, he monitored the providing of banking services in the Caribbean Netherlands on a “continuous” basis. “I consider the existence of a stable minimum provision conditional for the economic development of the Caribbean Netherlands and the self-development of the islands’ residents.”
Diertens’ question concerned the terminating of the ABN AMRO euro current accounts of residents and entrepreneurs in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba because they do not – or no longer – live in the Netherlands.
Hoekstra acknowledged that the terminating of these accounts would hamper access to banking services with the Netherlands, making the residents dependent on the services provided by local banks which charge additional provisions per transaction for bank transfers, comparable to the tariffs outside the so-called Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) from the Netherlands.
The minister clarified that even though residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba with Dutch nationality were citizens of the European Union (EU), they did not have a right to a European basic current account. This has to do with the fact that the islands have an Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) status, to which certain laws and regulations, including the right of access to a bank account, do not apply.
