Navigating the Netherlands Business Landscape for Finance Firms

An Essential Guide to Doing Business in the Netherlands for Investment Firms & Professionals

The Netherlands has a long track record of financial innovation and stability and the country’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) is direct about the country’s potential as a location for financial service sector firms to set-up shop. “The business climate in the Netherlands is stable in every sense,” reads the MOF website.Dutch authorities have strong confidence in the country’s deep financial system, stable public finances, regulatory track record, and educated and international workforce. Despite all these strengths the World Bank still has reservations about the Netherlands’ business friendly status. The Netherlands is only ranked 42 of the 190 countries on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, nestling between the Czech Republic and Bahrain on the multilateral lender’s list, four places lower than Rwanda, and well below long term financial services sector rival, the UK (8). The Dutch business climate was marked down by the World Bank for weaknesses in business reform (88) and getting credit (119). But importantly for global markets focused financial outfits the Netherlands is ranked equal first for ease of trading across borders. Consultant PWC was more positive about the Netherlands than the World Bank, if not as effusive as Forbes who called the country one of the best places to do business. PWC says the Dutch economy and tax system offers incentives to stimulate innovation and business and overall the Netherlands has several advantages for foreign entrepreneurs looking to set-up in Europe. “The Netherlands is one of the most open economies in the world and among the best countries in terms of technology and innovation,” PWC said.

The business climate

Strategic locationThe mighty Rhine River empties into the North Sea via a delta in the Netherlands, and this strategic location has seen Netherlands become home to Europe's largest port — Rotterdam, which provides a constant flow of energy, agricultural commodities, and containerised cargo from the Dutch economy to Europe. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is Europe's third busiest by number of flights in 2025 and has an integrated train station for direct travel to major European cities making it a travel favourite for international business people.The Netherlands doesn’t just have great physical infrastructure — it also offers a network of global connected financial services and investment advisory firms to attract foreign entrepreneurs. Competitive tax ratesThe Netherlands isn’t famous for ultra low tax rates but the flip side is they are not high by regional standards. The standard corporate income rate is 25.8%, with a lower rate of 19% applying to the first €200,000 of taxable income.The Netherlands has historically been an attractive jurisdiction for fund managers due to broad dividend withholding tax exemptions and an extensive network of nearly 100 double tax treaties to deal with potential double taxation issues.But this could be changing. Changes to investment fund tax treatment The Netherlands revamped the tax treatment of investment funds at the start of 2025. This follows measures in the country’s 2024 budget to partially revise the Dutch tax classification of foreign entities as either transparent or non-transparent to bring it in line with international standards. The Wet Fiscaal kwalificatiebeleid rechtsvormen; or Tax classification Act, proposes to codify the existing classification method for entities that have sufficiently similar equivalents. It also proposed eliminating the open limited partnerships (CV, the open commanditaire vennootschap), with the result that a Dutch limited partnership would nearly always be transparent for Dutch tax purposes — and therefore subject to the same tax as a Dutch company. Fund for Joint Account (FGR) structures, which are favoured by fund managers are generally tax transparent unless it qualifies as regulated alternative investment funds or UCITS. It is unclear how tax incentives change for family offices and private funds as a result of this change to Dutch law.

how to establish a finance firm in the Netherlands

Changes to withholding tax in the Netherlands The Netherlands also revised its withholding tax regime at the start of 2024 on dividend payments to low taxed jurisdictions and certain blacklisted Low Taxed Jurisdictions, including countries like Panama and Guam. Carried interest taxation in the Netherlands: is it changing?The Dutch Government published a study into the Dutch lucrative interest scheme (lucratief belang regeling), which applies to carried interest and sweet equity arrangements of private equity managers.The report looked at changes on the way taxable income from private equity investments are levied against the personal income tax rates of 49.5%, versus 31% currently. The Dutch government advised against changing the current system but expect further debate about carried interest and sweet equity taxation in the Netherlands, a country with lower than EU average levels of inequality. InnovationThe EU Commission ranked the Netherlands as an ‘innovation leader’ in its 2024 European Innovation Scoreboard, with performance at 125.7% of the EU average in 2024 and cited its strengths in areas such as the percentage of the population involved in lifelong learning.Despite the EU saying the Netherlands performance was below that of the other innovation leaders, countries like Sweden, Estonia, and first placed Denmark (average 132.1%), which could give foreign companies pause. Large talent poolThe Netherlands moved up to number five on the Global Talent Competitiveness Index in 2023 report published by the INSEAD business school, its highest ever rank and third in Europe behind Switzerland and Denmark. INSEAD rated the Dutch market particularly highly for an education system which brings larger numbers of international students into the country every year — the problem for international business is a long term housing crisis which gives them nowhere to live after they graduate. “In particular the largest business hubs for international companies and expats, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven, face both housing issues and talent issues,” says one European financial consultancy firm Consultancy.eu.The Dutch government is looking to increase incentives to bring highly skilled foreign workers in, announcing an extension of its ‘30% Ruling’, which provides tax incentives for companies to hire overseas workers to support business activities. Strong financial centerThe Netherlands is a global financial centre and Amsterdam is home to Europe’s largest and most international stock exchange group, Euronext, which also has bourses in Lisbon, Dublin, Oslo, and London. The Netherlands has a well developed fund management industry, the fifth largest in Europe by AUM, according to industry group EFAMA, powered by two of the world’s biggest pension funds; ABP (fifth biggest globally) and PFZW (11), which have combined assets of close to $800bn. This has led to the Netherlands becoming a regular location for setting up the legal entity of family offices and alternative investment funds, with 2023 data from EFAMA showing that the country was the fifth biggest destination in Europe for AIFs (10% of total AUM).The country is also home to over 850 fintechs and related firms, the second largest fintech sector in the EU. English proficiency benefitsThe Netherlands excellent education system is ranked third in the globe by the World Population Review when this is combined with Dutch’s closeness to English and you and the end result is sky high English proficiency levels in the Netherlands. In 2024 it topped English First’s global ranking of English proficiency for the sixth year in a row, ahead of even Singapore where English is one of the four official languages.

doing business in Holland for investment firms

Setting up a finance firm in the Netherlands

Select a legal business structure (rechtsvorm)The Netherlands has a total of 11 different structures (rechtsvorm) for corporate entities.There are five different legal structures without a corporate personality for a Dutch company. These are:

Sole proprietor (eenmanszaak)
General or commercial partnership (vof or vennootschap onder firma)
Professional or public partnership (maatschap)
Limited partnership (cv or commanditaire vennootschap)
Shipping company (rederij)

There is one more option in the Netherlands for legal structures with a corporate personality. They are:

Private limited company (bv or besloten vennootschap)
Public limited company (nv or naamloze vennootschap)
Cooperative (coöperatie)
Association (vereniging)
Foundation (stichting)
Religious society (kerkgenootschap)

Which legal business structure do investment funds use? According to the Legal 500 Country Comparative Guide, there are multiple corporate structures that AIFs structures can use in the Netherlands and each affects the level of tax benefits.“In the Netherlands, AIFs are generally structured in the form of a limited partnership (CV), a cooperative (coöperatie), a contractual fund for joint account (FGR), a private limited liability company (BV) or a public limited company (NV), or a combination thereof.In addition, there are two separate tax fund regimes, being the fiscal investment institution (fiscale beleggingsinstelling, FBI) which is often used as a REIT and the exempted investment institution (vrijgestelde beleggingsinstelling, VBI). These regimes provide for an attractive tax treatment subject to certain requirements having been met,” the Legal 500 said. Arrange general terms and conditions, and insuranceAll companies need to check their insurance liabilities and aside from routine business operations. Professional indemnity insurance is also required by a number of professions including financial advisers, lawyers, and accountants.Check which legal requirements you need to meetAll businesses, foreign or local, need to register with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK) which provides a helpful tool to track your tax and other expenses. Register with the Dutch Business Register and Tax AdministrationOnce KVK has received the registration it will then forward all the information on to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) which will automatically enrol the business onto the Dutch tax system.Finance and taxesIn 2024, the Netherlands government was on course to raise around €403bn from the Dutch tax system with the lion’s share coming from income tax, social security contributions, and Value Added Tax (VAT).A 2024 financial stability assessment by the International Monetary Fund which looked at housing, non-banks, business regulation, and climate risks, found that Dutch financial institutions are broadly resilient to the adverse macro financial scenarios.

business landscape for finance in Netherlands

The challenges of doing business in the Netherlands

The British government praises the Dutch business climate, citing NGO Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), eight ranking for the Netherlands ranks 8th out of 180 countries. This is ten places higher than the UK and demonstrates the Netherland’s high levels of government transparency and low levels of corruption make it a favourable environment for business operations, according to the UK government. The country’s foreign ministry also has an extensive global network which supports international businesses setting up in the Netherlands in conjunction with the Enterprise Ministry.But the Netherlands isn’t without problems - its excellent standard of living comes with high living costs that mean the Dutch pay one of the highest proportions of their income in housing costs in the EU, while employers face stringent workers rights legislation. Setting up a company in the Netherlands is also slow, complex, and administratively burdensome.

How easy is it for foreign companies to open a Dutch business bank account?

Doing business in the Netherlands requires an IBAN bank account, which allows holders in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA - the EU member states, plus, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) countries to make cross-border euro payments.But while it’s important to have a bank in the Netherlands, setting one up isn’t easy.KYC and AML considerations have been front of mind for Dutch banks since market leading lender ING was fined $900m in 2018 for failures relating to what prosecutors described as not preventing terrorist financing or money laundering ‘structurally and for years’.As a result one business relocation services provider in the Netherlands, Bolder Launch, says it can now be a ‘struggle’ for foreign firms to open a bank account, with lenders often requiring in person interviews, and a multi-week approval process. The relocation service provider suggests that foreign entities looking to set-up in the Netherlands should first check to see if their home country has a multinational bank with a branch in the Netherlands, or instead consider paying an agent to help with the account opening process.Another alternative for a Dutch corporate entity is to open an account with an electronic payment provider like Narvi. As a provider of services to AIFMs and family offices as well as fintechs, Narvi is familiar with the compliance requirements of the sector and is therefore able to offer bank accounts for financial services sector firms in the Netherlands. Most firms don’t have to have their business account in the same country where they are incorporated — which makes Finland-based and licensed Narvi Payments the perfect solution.

With Narvi, you can send and receive SEPA Instant and SWIFT transfers in 60+ currencies and 100+ countries.
Unlike Dutch legacy banks, Narvi offers a 10-minute digital onboarding, which means clients which are approved by the compliance department can have speedy access to a bank account.
Each bank account can generate as many IBANs as are required meaning it's possible to set up accounts for each purpose/use case to support your new Dutch venture in a short time.
OTC desk supports forex transactions and crypto-to-fiat operations.
The account supports multi-level user roles, and the API integrations connect to the payroll, accounting, and investment software, making operations seamless.

Doing business in the Netherlands: Cultural differences

Dutch business etiquette is driven by its history, with the ‘Polderen’ or ‘polder model’, which is decision making based on consensus, of solving problems via dialogue with every party having an equal say and results in flat hierarchy within corporates. The Dutch reputation for frankness has spurred a myriad of English idioms with the stereotype of the ‘Dutch Uncle’ and his direct advice, feeding into a business culture which values open and honest communication without excessive politeness.Do's and don'ts: business etiquette in the NetherlandsBusiness communication is informal — use first names and get directly to the point. It takes time to build trust with Dutch business partners but once made these relationships will endure for the longer term.

The Netherlands' economic outlook - minus geopolitics

The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) warned in late 2024 that rising geopolitical tensions were bringing a great deal of uncertainty and were posing a growing threat to the Dutch economy, a warning that has proven accurate given the rapid tariff wall put up by the US president. The DNB’s was bullish about the Dutch economic outlook absent geopolitics, a view which was backed by the European Commision and the OECD which both predict growth of 1.6% for the Netherlands economy in 2025, well above the 0.9% predicted by the European Central Bank for the single currency zone as a whole. Geopolitics may be uncertain but the Netherlands offers entrepreneurs a location with a reputation for stability and the physical and human resource infrastructure which international investors need, according to global consulting firm KPMG. “The Netherlands is known for its open and transparent business climate. It has a strong service sector to assist companies in navigating the regulatory landscape and offers a supportive environment for foreign multinationals to establish business hubs,” KPMG says.

Start your journey with Narvi — explore what we offer for Netherlands-based finance firms and book a demo call:

Published May 29, 2025Author:
Aaron Woolner is a financial journalist with over a decade of experience covering banking, insurance, fintech, and regulatory topics. Having led editorial teams at prominent publications like Capital.com and Asia Risk, Aaron delivers informed and compelling insights from across Asia and Europe.Disclaimer
This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax, or other professional advice from Narvi Payments Oy Ab or its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.