NETHERLANDS – The new Dutch pension firm Cordares, formerly known as the SFB, the social fund for the building industry, is seeking growth by offering administration, asset management and income insurance, it says in its annual report.

SFB changed its name last month and intensified its efforts at finding new clients. It is also planning a merger with ASW, the pensions administrator for the building societies. ASW has 75,000 members.

Cordares is a joint venture between SBF and A&O Services, which is focusing on the building industry. It manages €21.5bn of assets of five pension funds, which makes it one of the largest asset managers in the Netherlands. The linked schemes have almost a million members.

Bonds and equity yielded returns of 7.8% and 9.8% respectively, Cordares reported. The company itself, which employs 945 people full time, made a €12.5m profit on a turnover of €198m.

Cordares announced a levensloop, or life course, scheme, as part of the new national pensions legislation. It has developed its own risk model for the total of the invested assets, which enables it to better estimate the pension buffers set by its clients, it added.

Cordares’ own pension scheme is still based on final salary and has applied a 2.5% indexation. Its coverage ratio was 129% at the end of the year.