April 2019

23Apr

Dutch Pension Funds Rebound from December’s Santa Claus Blues

After a rough 2018, Dutch pension funds are finding redemption in the markets. Civil service plan ABP ($484 billion) and health care retirement fund PFZW ($243.6 billion) felt the sting of a cold, winter gust that knocked assets around. The two plans suffered losses (-2.3% and -0.4%, respectively) in 2018, sinking their funding ratios a bit. Amid this year’s cold, wintry gusts, first quarter assets showed signs of recovery. ABP returned 8.2% and PFZW gained 8.5% in the period...

April 23, 2019
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22Apr

Fair Pensions

By Ilja Boelaars (University of Chicago) & Dirk Broeders (De Nederlandsche Bank; Maastricht University) This paper examines the allocation of market risk in a general class of collective pension arrangements: Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) schemes. In a CDC scheme participants collectively share funding risk through benefit level adjustments. There is a concern that, if not well designed, CDC schemes are unfair and will lead to an unintended redistribution of wealth between participants and, in particular, between generations. We define a...

April 22, 2019
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September 2018

24Sep

APG’s sustainable investments grow €2.2bn

Dutch pension provider APG has seen its investments in sustainable real estate and infrastructure grow €1.3bn and €900m in one year. According to APG, which manages €482bn in pension assets, the growth is proof sustainable investments yield long-term returns with the sustainable real estate portfolio grew to €21.7bn and infrastructure to €2.3bn. This also contributes to the objectives of pension scheme APB, APG’s largest client, who invested €58bn in business that helps meet United Nation’s sustainable development goals by 2020. APG uses...

September 24, 2018
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July 2018

06Jul

Demography and Provisions for Retirement: The Pension Composition, an Equilibrium Approach

By B.M.S. van Praag (University of Amsterdam) & J. Peter Hop (University of Amsterdam) Pensions may be provided for in a modern society by several methods, viz., voluntary individual savings, mandatory fully funded occupational pension systems, and mandatory social security financed by pay-as-you-go. The specific mixture of the three systems we will call the pension composition. We assume that individual workers decide about their own individual savings, that the fully funded occupational system is decided upon by the age cohort of...

July 6, 2018
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October 2017

17Oct

Dutch pension fund invests in local wireless infrastructure provider

The Rabo Bouwfonds Communication Infrastructure Fund (CIF) has sold its stake in the Netherlands-based Open Tower Company to a local pension fund. ABP, which has €394 billion of assets under management, has acquired a 75 percent in OTC for an undisclosed sum. OTC co-founder NOVEC, another infrastructure provider, retains a 25 percent share in the company, which was founded in 2009 and has built up a portfolio of 800 towers. CIF Managing Partner Randolf Nijsse said: “Starting as a new...

October 17, 2017
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July 2017

26Jul

Netherlands. Binck Bank launches robo-advised Pension

Dutch online bank Binckbank broadens its portfolio of service with Binck Pension. With this product, Binckbank enters the emerging Dutch market of individual pension plans. Brink Pension is a life annuity that enables clients to build an individual (supplementary) pension with fiscal benefits. This service uses the same robo-advisory technology as Binck Forward. With the desired pension date, the model is able to adjust portfolio risks as the pension date approaches. Brink Forward is formerly known as the online wealth...

July 26, 2017
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12Jul

Netherlands. CEO of pension fund manager PGGM heads to Dutch central bank

The outgoing CEO of Dutch pension fund manager PGGM, Else Bos, will take up a key position at the Dutch central bank next year, leading oversight of insurers and pension funds. Bos, who previously worked at Dutch banks ABN Amro and NIBC, will begin her role at the central bank (DNB) on July 1, 2018, the Dutch finance ministry and DNB said on Tuesday. PGGM said in May that Bos, 57, would leave in November to take an unspecified position elsewhere....

July 12, 2017
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June 2017

12Jun

Pension Fund’s Portfolio Decisions: The Dutch Data

DeNederlandscheBank (DNB) issued a working paper this spring about the impact of liquidity and capital constraints on defined benefit pension plans. The paper has three authors, Dirk Broeders, Kristy Jansen, and Bas Werker. The first named author, Broeders, is the only one formally affiliated with DNB. The others are affiliated with Maastricht and Tilburg Universities, respectively. Their paper contains the usual caution that these are the views of the authors, not those of the DNB itself. The relevant definitions are as...

June 12, 2017
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