SUPERVISION OF TRUST COMPANIES IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN

May 04, 2010 6:41 AM

Trust companies render management services

The supervision of trust companies is dealt with in the National Ordinance on the Supervision of Trust Service Providers 2003 (‘Landsverordening toezicht trustwezen’, the ‘NOST’).

Supervision of trust companies (a.k.a. fiduciary or company service providers) falls in the category integrity supervision and not in the category prudential supervision. The supervisor is the Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles. The ordinance prohibits anyone from rendering fiduciary or trust services without a license.

According to Art. 10 of the NOST, trust services means: (a) establishing an international company or causing it to be established when such is performed by a resident of the Netherlands Antilles; (b) acting as the local representative or the managing director, residing or established within the Netherlands Antilles, of an international company; (c) making natural persons or legal persons, residing or established within the Netherlands Antilles, available as the local representative or managing director of an international company; and (d) winding up an international company or causing it to be wound up, when such is performed by a resident of the Netherlands Antilles.

An ‘International Company’ is defined as a legal entity which has its corporate or factual seat in the Netherlands Antilles and which has been granted a general foreign exchange exemption.

BTW, during the years 2002 and 2003, I was a member of the ‘Raad van Toezicht inzake het Fiduciair Bedrijf’ (Supervisory Board for Fiduciary Business), at that time the independent Netherlands Antilles supervisor of trust offices.

Karel Frielink
Attorney (Lawyer) / Partner

1 May 2010