NETHERLANDS – The €336bn pensions provider and asset manager APG has introduced a platform for tailor-made administration of defined contribution (DC) plans for the new pensions vehicle PPI, as well as company schemes and insurers.

APG said the "advanced" system, called Lifetime – developed by APG subsidiary Inovita – offered a high degree of self-service.

Under the client's name, the platform can carry out any type of DC plan transparently, efficiently and cheaply, it said.

Inadmin, another offshoot of APG, is to manage the Lifetime platform.

APG stressed that clients would be free to pick their own insurers or asset managers, and that they could also purchase Inadmin's services in modules or phases.

It said that Pensional – APG's own PPI, run in a joint venture with ABN AMRO Asset Management – would be its first client.

Pensional entered the market last year. According to Floris Schilthuis, its director, the new PPI has acquired approximately 25 clients with a combined staff of almost 10,000 so far.

He said he expected considerable growth in the coming years, adding that the PPI was intending to expand its services to other EU countries, as part of contracts with Dutch multinationals.

APG pointed out that Inadmin supported an open model for additional life insurance products, and had been designed to deal with market value-based arrangements.

"Insurance products can be flexibly managed if the contribution depends on investments in the policy," it added.

The asset manager further indicated that the new IT platform could accommodate dynamic individual investment strategies – with guarantees on deposit and returns, for example.

It said the same went for "managed defined contribution" arrangements, with the investment policy taking into account accrued pension rights, career patterns, inflation and interest rate moves.

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