The Act on the Supervision of Trust Offices (ASTO) entered into force on March 1st, 2004. The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank N.V. or 'DNB') has been charged with implementing this legislation. The legislation introduces direct supervision of all trust offices through a licensing system. FTC has been granted a lincense and has been registered as such in the appropriate register of DNB.

The ASTO focuses primarily on promoting the integrity of the Dutch financial system in general and the regulation of the trust sector in particular.

Trust offices which provide services from an establishment in the Netherlands have to be licensed under the ASTO. Trust offices which meet the statutory requirements on integrity, expertise and sound operational management will obtain a licence from DNB, be registered at DNB and may offer trust services. Trust offices have to allow DNB to inspect information on their operational management and organisation.

Rules in respect of sound operational management have been imposed on trust offices by means of the Regulation on sound operational management relating to the ASTO.

In this respect the trust office is obliged to identify the ultimate beneficial owner(s) of a client company and to know the source of wealth of the ultimate beneficial owner(s) and of the source of the funds that are used to finance the corporate group structure.

FTC Trust can only accept clients who have submitted sufficient information about their backgrounds and the nature of their businesses and therefore requires:

If the ultimate beneficial owner is a private person:

• certified copy of his / her passport;
• original letter of introduction issued by a reputable bank;
• original declaration related to origin of wealth and funds;
• information on the structure of which the client company will be a part.

If case the ultimate beneficial owner is a legal entity:

• original extract Commercial Register;
• copy articles of association or deed of incorporation;
• original letter of introduction issued by a reputable bank;
• latest financial statements;
• original declaration related to origin of wealth and funds;
• information on the structure of which the client company will be a part.

Please note that ultimate beneficial owner under the ASTO is defined as a private person having an (in)direct share of 10% (or more) in a client company.

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