Maarten van Wijk

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Trump trade war puts Dutch funding ratios under pressure

1 month ago | ipe.com | Tjibbe Hoekstra |Maarten van Wijk

Trump trade war puts Dutch funding ratios under pressure By Tjibbe Hoekstra and Maarten van Wijk2025-04-10T10:00:00 The short-term shock is extra relevant for Dutch funds, as they want to make the transition to a new defined contribution arrangement with comfortable funding ratios
Achmea and Sixth Street merge to enter Dutch buyout market

Dec 2, 2024 | ipe.com | Tjibbe Hoekstra |Maarten van Wijk

Dutch insurance firm Achmea and US investment firm Sixth Street Partners are merging their pension activities into a new joint venture that will enter the buyout market for Dutch pension funds. Achmea will initially have a stake of 80% in the new joint venture, which will pool the business of Lifetri and the pension and life insurance activities of Achmea. Sixth Street will get a 20% stake for bringing in Lifetri’s €2bn in pension and life assets as well as paying a sum of €445m to Achmea.
Ahold Delhaize buys off sponsor guarantee for pension fund

Nov 25, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

Dutch supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize will buy out its sponsorship guarantee to its company pension scheme. At the end of this year, €155m will be paid into the €5.7bn pension scheme’s coffers. According to the current defined benefit (DB) arrangement of Ahold Delhaize Pensioen, the firm must make additional payments to the fund if its funding ratio drops below 104.6%. The last time that happened was at the end of 2020, when Ahold Delhaize paid €122m to its pension fund.
BP to repatriate Dutch pensions from Belgium

Nov 20, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

The pension fund of oil major BP is planning to start a new defined contribution (DC) arrangement for its Dutch employees with a Dutch pension provider, according to Peter Paul van Tilborg, HR director at BP’s Dutch branch, and director of the BP pension fund in Belgium. The fund is also considering a buyout to a Dutch insurer for its Belgium-based defined benefit (DB) accruals, leaving the future of its €1.6bn pension fund uncertain.
First Dutch pension fund gets go-ahead for DC switch

Nov 18, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

Pensioenfonds Loodsen, the professional pension fund for Dutch shipping pilots, has been the first pension fund to get the go-ahead from pension regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) to move to a new defined contribution (DC) arrangement by 1 January 2025. The fund, with €1bn in assets under management and 1,335 members, is now making its final operational preparations for the DC switch, according to Rajesh Grobbe, the director of the pension fund.
Dutch pension admin costs up 13% in 2023

Jul 8, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

Administration costs of the 10 largest Dutch pension funds ticked up sharply in 2023. Preparations for the country’s new pension law are a major cause, according to a study by consultancy Bell. The study, which featured 10 major funds that together manage 69% of Dutch pension assets, showed pension administration costs rose from €88 per participant in 2022 to €99 in 2023 (13%). In euros, pension administration costs rose from €553m to €636m.
Dutch funds risk €18bn bill if pension transition called off, says PwC

Apr 29, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

If none of the accrued defined benefit (DB) pensions were to be converted to defined contribution (DC) capitals under the Dutch pension reform, it would cost pension funds some €18bn to keep legacy DB systems running, according to calculations by accountancy firm PwC.
Dutch wholesalers fund to give members individual choice on DC switch

Mar 7, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

The Dutch pension fund for companies in the wholesale and recycling sectors, Pensioenfonds Nederlandse Groothandel, will not make the switch to the new defined contribution (DC) system. Instead, it will give all 30,000 members a choice whether to convert their defined benefit (DB) accruals to DC. The wholesalers’ fund is the first pension scheme to announce it will grant individual choice to its members.
Booking.com to join Dutch pension fund, court rules

Jan 31, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

Booking.com is a travel agency and is therefore required to join the Dutch multi-sector scheme PGB, a court of second instance in The Hague has ruled. The ruling, follows a 2021 judgement by the Dutch High Court that Booking.com indeed is a travel agency, in a case initiated by the Dutch pension fund for the travel sector Reiswerk. This fund joined multi-sector scheme PGB, with €28bn in assets under management, in 2022.
Aegon compensates customers for inappropriate interest rate hedge hike

Jan 16, 2024 | ipe.com | Maarten van Wijk

Insurance firm Aegon has paid compensation to a group of retired customers because it had increased the interest rate hedge of their pension product excessively. A spokesperson for Aegon confirmed this after the trade publication for the insurance sector AM had reported the matter. The compensation, which amounts to about 10% of pension capital, has been awarded to retirees who had bought a pension product with an aggressive risk profile.