NETHERLANDS - Dufas, the Dutch Fund and Asset Management Association (Dufas), has published a check list for good practice in fiduciary management of pension funds.
Together with parties such as PGGM and Mn Services, Dufas has launched a set of principles to help the industry define more clearly the distinction between asset management, multi-management and fiduciary management.
The Dufas principles identify a number of core activities with which a fiduciary manager should comply, while warning pension funds and managers against potential conflicts of interest.
The principles state fiduciary managers should be transparent towards the pension fund about the costs paid to others within the framework of the fiduciary mandate and the cost of the investments of the assets.
"Also the selection criteria for the appointment of investment managers should be made more transparent," according to Dufas.
Wouter Bos, the Dutch minister of finance, welcomed the principles, arguing: "It is best if such a quality mark comes from the sector itself, this is much better than regulation made by the government."
A study by consultancy company Bureau Bosch estimates that over 70% of the Duch pension assets are in external management, if one includes the 'own' asset managemers of the pension funds ABP and PFZW.
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