Netherlands Archives - Pension Policy International

04DecDecember 4, 2023

Dutch pension fund PMT sells most fossil fuel holdings

Pensioenfonds Metaal & Techniek (PMT) has divested from 40 oil and gas companies, but remains invested in nine companies with “sufficiently convincing plans” for the energy transition and carbon reduction. All of the retained companies are headquartered in Europe. Over the past two years, the pension fund had asked all companies in the oil and gas sector in which it invests to commit to the Paris Agreement and set sufficiently ambitious and substantiated CO2 reduction targets. Forty of those companies could not meet...

December 4, 2023

NewsClimate crisis, ESG, Netherlands, Pension Management

09NovNovember 9, 2023

Dutch pension funds fear ‘ill-fated idea’ to grandfather accruals

Agnes Joseph, an actuary for Achmea and a member of parliament (MP) candidate for the NSC party, is leading the proposal to make it easier to keep accruals in the current DB system – a plan that was unveiled last month when NSC published its election manifesto and discussed extensively on Monday during an election debate organised by IPE’s sister publication Pensioen Pro. According to Joseph, who is the NSC spokesperson for pensions, DB pensions should only be converted to DC if pension...

November 9, 2023

NewsNetherlands, Pension Management

26SepSeptember 26, 2023

Dutch pension funds move hundreds of billions in assets to mandates

Dutch pension funds have transferred €372bn in assets from investment funds to mandates over the past three and a half years. Mandates make it easier for funds to implement their responsible investment policies. Pension funds’ net investments in investment funds used to be fairly stable, but from the end of 2019 outflows gradually started to accelerate, according to figures from regulator DNB. A DNB spokesman said that conversations with pension funds have indicated that these holdings have generally been converted to...

September 26, 2023

NewsInvestment, Netherlands

20SepSeptember 20, 2023

Netherlands Leads Europe in Green Bonds, While Dutch Pensions Cut Asia Investments in 2022

The Netherlands is the leader among eurozone nations in raising green debt securities, according to data from De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands. The Dutch green bond has doubled in size since October 2020, according to the DNB, rising to 122.9 billion euros as of the end of July 2023 and up 21% from one year earlier. In contrast, the overall Dutch bond market contracted 3.4% during that same time. Dutch firms and the Netherlands government are, among European...

September 20, 2023

NewsInvestment, Netherlands

30AugAugust 30, 2023

Dutch pension funds slash €28bn of Asian investments

Sales and losses have led to allocations to the region falling by more than a fifth in 15 months. Allocations to Japan, and Taiwan were the most affected, according to central bank data. A combination of sales and losses have seen Dutch pension fund allocations to Asia fall by €27.5 billion ($30.3 billion) since the last quarter of 2021. Asia allocations by the industry in the first quarter of 2023 totalled €106.6 billion, down from €134.1 billion 15 months earlier, a...

August 30, 2023

NewsAsia, Investment, Netherlands, Pension Management

30JunJune 30, 2023

Analysis: Dutch pension fund reform spells investment rethink

An overhaul of the private pensions system in the Netherlands - the biggest in the European Union - is leading asset managers there to rethink how they invest 1.5 trillion euros ($1.64 trillion) of retirement savings. Asset managers for top Dutch pension funds said the reform, which takes effect on Saturday, could spark outflows from euro zone government bonds in favour of riskier assets and change the way such funds protect themselves from swings in interest rates. Changes approved in May...

June 30, 2023

News, UncategorizedNetherlands, Pension Reform

31MayMay 31, 2023

Netherlands set to reform $1.6 trillion private pension sector

The Netherlands is set for a major overhaul of its 1.45 trillion euro ($1.6 trillion) private pension industry, Europe's largest, that will see funds ditch the promise of guaranteed benefits as they try to keep a lid on costs. Following years of debate, the Dutch Senate on Tuesday gave its final approval for the shift to a "defined contribution" system, which proponents say will yield better results - though opponents have warned of the extra risks it introduces. Traditionally, Dutch workers...

May 31, 2023

NewsNetherlands, Pension Reform, Sustainability

21AprApril 21, 2023

Shocks to Occupational Pensions and Household Savings

By Francesco Caloia, Mauro Mastrogiacomo & Irene Simonetti This paper studies the saving response of households to shocks in the capital position of their pension fund. Using survey panel data matched to supervisory data of Dutch occupational pension funds for a period that involved three major economic crises, we provide evidence of an increase in savings driven by a worsening of the financial position of pension funds. The identification strategy exploits cross-sectional and time variations in the funding ratios of...

April 21, 2023

Articles, Savings2023, Funding, Netherlands, Occupational Pensions

14AprApril 14, 2023

Dutch pension group warns proposal on derivatives could hurt pension funds’ returns

A Dutch pension federation, which represents pension funds with a combined a €1.4 trillion ($1.5 trillion) in assets warned that the latest European proposal on central clearing of derivatives could lead to lower investment returns. Under the latest proposal to amend the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, the European Commission wants market participants to have an active account with a central counterparty, or CCP, inside of the European Union and wants to define a minimum share of transactions that would have...

April 14, 2023

NewsInvestment, Netherlands

20DecDecember 20, 2022

Conversion from DB to DC: The EU Pension Custodian

By: Hans van Meerten Worldwide we see a move to DC schemes. Most – if not all countries – choose the operate DB next to DC. However, in The Netherlands, the legislator choose for so-called conversion: transforming 'old' DB- to 'new' DC. In 2011, the Dutch legislator introduced the so called 'Pension Custodian'. It could only be used for the Dutch 2nd pillar DC IORP, the PPI. This Pension Custodion should *not* be confused with the IORP II Custodian. However, with the implementation of...

December 20, 2022

Articles, Pension design2022, Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, EU, Netherlands

December 2023

Dutch pension fund PMT sells most fossil fuel holdings

November 2023

Dutch pension funds fear ‘ill-fated idea’ to grandfather accruals

September 2023

Dutch pension funds move hundreds of billions in assets to mandates

Netherlands Leads Europe in Green Bonds, While Dutch Pensions Cut Asia Investments in 2022

August 2023

Dutch pension funds slash €28bn of Asian investments

June 2023

Analysis: Dutch pension fund reform spells investment rethink

May 2023

Netherlands set to reform $1.6 trillion private pension sector

April 2023

Shocks to Occupational Pensions and Household Savings

Dutch pension group warns proposal on derivatives could hurt pension funds’ returns

December 2022

Conversion from DB to DC: The EU Pension Custodian