Outside on the stock exchange, the focus is on the large companies in the leading index AEX: Above the entrance to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, at Beursplein 5, a light strip runs from right to left with the current prices of the 25 most important stocks. Name, ticker symbol, current price – from "A" for ABN Amro to "W" for Wolters Kluwer.

Klaus Max Smolka

Editor in business.

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The price list, however, consists of more than the heavyweights. The all-share index of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, which is part of the Euronext exchange group, comprises more than 130 stocks. A number of them are unknown even to many locals – including half a dozen smaller values, which are attracting a lot of interest, especially in professional circles. This is because they have to fear for their stock exchange listing because they do not have a sufficiently qualified auditor.

Listed companies are classified as "public interest organisations", abbreviated as OOB in the Netherlands, and must be monitored by a certified auditor. However, several auditors have withdrawn from the OOB services, probably also in connection with criticism of the financial supervisory authority AFM on their work. The only ones who can still perform this service are the "Big Four" (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Pricewaterhouse Coopers) as well as BDO and Mazars.

Deadline until November 3

The six listed companies are in a predicament because, after a two-year grace period until mid-April, they still did not have an OOB auditor. The exchange therefore began a process of "delisting" at the beginning of the month. The process will take six months, and so the companies concerned now have a final deadline of November 3, as the person responsible for listings in Amsterdam, René van Vlerken, said in an interview with the F.A.Z. last week. Euronext Amsterdam wants to secure reputation, stability and quality with the auditor requirement, "also to protect investors," added Euronext Amsterdam boss Simone Huis in 't Veld.

Anyone who does not meet the requirements in the regulated market will be put on the "punishment bench", as it is called here. Example: the ladder and scaffolding manufacturer Alumexx – one of the six companies affected. According to its own statements, it had to metaphorically sit on the bench with its share in 2020 because its auditor returned the OOB approval and then no replacement was found. In April 2021, Euronext Amsterdam gave all six penalty bench holders 24 months to return to compliance with the stock exchange rules.

The deadline passed last month, and Alumexx announced that it would appeal against a possible lockout. In addition, Euronext Amsterdam will discuss a move to a less strictly regulated segment of Euronext's sister company Brussels. The same is reported by the holding company Lavide, which is also affected and is considering Paris in addition to Brussels. The investment holding company Value8, which will soon face the same problem, points to a "capacity problem in the Dutch OOB market": While the country has six suitably qualified auditors, there are 500 in France, for example.

Finance Minister supports the stock market

The stock market was recently backed by Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag of the left-liberal party D66: "A listed company that can't find anyone to control the annual report naturally has a serious problem," she said in response to a parliamentary question in the Second Chamber in The Hague – and referred to the Credit Suisse case, which demonstrates the central role of serious auditing.