Maintaining banking relationships for coffeeshops despite stricter Wwft (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act) risk policies – through discussions with banks, supervisory authorities and sector-wide agreements.
Banking issues remain a structural problem. Due to the tightening of the Wwft (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act), banks are implementing increasingly stringent risk policies. The tension between the Dutch tolerance policy and the Wwft is known and acknowledged, but in practice, it remains unresolved.
Coffeeshops operate within a permitted framework, but due to the unregulated purchasing side and the proportion of cash transactions, they are systematically classified as high-risk clients. Relations with banks are generally good – periodic consultations take place – but additional controls, recurring information requests and sometimes termination of banking relationships remain common practice.
