NETHERLANDS - The €400m pension fund for workers in the arts and culture sector, Pensioenfonds Cultuur, has appointed PGGM as its pension provider.

PGGM will also take over the culture scheme's pensions provider, the life insurer Kunst en Cultuur, both organisations said in a joint statement.

PGGM, which had already been appointed as asset manager for the culture scheme earlier this year, also takes over the board support function.

The Pensioenfonds Cultuur said it has been looking for another provider, in order to guarantee continuity and the development of service to its 20,000 participants.

It added that all activities of its provider will be integrated within PGGM over time.

"We are pleased that we can offer a future-proof solution for staff and participants at both organisations," commented Martin van Rijn, chief executive officer of PGGM.

Barbara Leach, chair of the Stichting Pensioenfonds Cultuur added: "As we have a good experience with PGGM, we have a lot of faith in the future co-operation."

"The expertise and scale of PGGM warrants that the service level to our participants will be maintained," she added.

Pensioenfonds Cultuur has approximately 400 affiliated employers. Its cover ratio was 90% in November, and the pension fund decided to raise the contributions by 2.5 percentage points to 12.5% for both employers and workers as a consequence.

PGGM is the asset manager of the €98bn healthcare scheme PFZW. It has approximately €100bn of assets under management of over 2.3m workers and pensioners.