BELGIUM - The Belgian council of Kortrijk (Courtrai) is looking to put a mandate of €5m in to a so-called ‘Silver Fund'.

The silver fund is a budgetary system to set aside money for future pension obligations: it will act as a reserve fund in order to "control the expenditures," a spokesman for the council explained.

"Most local councils do not their own pension funds, as it is usually arranged by the [Belgian social security institution] RSZPPO," the spokesman added.

Due to the fact that in the past there was no capitalisation of the pension pot, the assets pay for the pensions.

"But it is expected that the contribution which needs to be paid from the assets will grow enormously in the next few years, the silver fund is in fact a normal insurance product to ensure that we look ahead and build up reserves that give a certain return," according to the council.

The council expects bank insurers that are specialised in such products to tender; there is no consultant or adviser involved.

Tenders or requests to participate should be drawn up in Dutch. The deadline for the tender is November 21.