More Brexit-fleeing companies heading for Netherlands

More companies are looking to settle in the Netherlands after the Brexit. Over the past six months Dutch central bank DNB received 35 applications for a license in the banking sector, the insurance sector, and "especially in the payment institutions and electronic money sectors", among others, the bank said on Wednesday.

Some 20 of the applications had to do with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union - 15 from companies in the payments industry and five from companies in other sectors, according to the bank. The companies want to move the the European continent so that they can continue doing business in the EU unhindered after the Brexit.

The Dutch regulator on financial markets AFM also received a considerable number of applications from investment companies, DNB said.

DNB expects this trend to intensify, with more companies coming to settle in the Netherlands. In addition to the Brexit, Europe's new payment services directive PSD2 and the growing economy also make the Netherlands attractive to financial businesses, the central bank said.