On 1 January, 24 more Dutch pension funds, including the second and third-largest schemes PFZW and PMT, converted their assets to new defined contribution (DC) arrangements. This allowed most funds to distribute a large part of their buffers to members, leading to an average pension increase of 13.6% for the ’class of 2026’.
The double-digit rises for these pension funds contrast with the meagre pension increases at the funds that switched to DC a year earlier. The hikes at PWRI, the APG staff fund, the fund for public librarians and the professional fund for shipping pilots could not match inflation. These funds, however, distributed their buffers already last year, with the fund for librarians awarding the largest pension increase, of 40%.
Moreover, four of the five ‘early birds’ into the DC system spread out the investment result over several years. This so-called ‘spreading’ is the reason they increased pensions by less than 1% this year, well below inflation of 3.3%.
Selling US
Dutch pension funds have also responded to increasing tensions between Europe and the US, both on the geopolitical and investment side. In December, PME announced it was withdrawing a €5bn mandate from BlackRock over concerns about its (lack of) ESG policy, awarding the mandate instead to two European asset managers.
Dutch funds have also joined Nordic pension schemes in divesting from US assets. The civil service scheme sold €10bn worth of US Treasuries in 2025, while other pension funds have also reduced their dollar bond holdings, according to data from regulator DNB.
Last but not least, the country’s largest pension asset manager and administrator, APG, announced a major reorganisation to cut costs, revealing plans to shed over 1,000 jobs. The firm will stop providing asset management services to clients other than its owner ABP. As part of this strategic reorientation, Pensioenfonds Woningcorporaties, the pension scheme for the social housing sector, announced it had found a new fiduciary manager in Van Lanschot Kempen.
Items to note:
- IPE’s Transition Conference & Awards 2026 will take place on 22 April at The Hague.
Tjibbe Hoekstra
IPE Netherlands Correspondent
This news briefing was published earlier in the week. If you would like to receive it regularly, on your IPE profile, go to My Newsletters and select any from the list.
