NETHERLANDS - The implementation of the Levensloop, or ‘life course’, the substitute for pre-pension arrangements, is not living up to expectations, according to a new report.

Insurers and several pension funds expected to reap the rewards of millions of employees taking out the new arrangements.

However, Assurantie magazine claims that less than 10% of all employees have taken it out.

Insurers such as Aegon, Delta Lloyd and bank group ABN Amro say the main reason for hesitation is that the option still is largely unknown.

Dutch employees have until July 1 to change their current salary saving arrangements into a levensloop arrangement. It was set up as a way to save for extended sabbaticals or early retirement.

According to the report, Aegon has just 5-10% of its subscribers changing to the new arrangements, while the figure at Delta Lloyd is below 10%.

ABN Amro has a 7-8% take-up rate with Rabobank and Nationale Nederlanden have also reported meagre results.

In total, only several thousand subscriptions have been reported.

Elsewhere, the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), as supervisor of the Dutch pension sector, has stated that the proposed move of the former PVK offices in Apeldoorn to Amsterdam will not result in lay-offs.

The DNB expects that all the former 230 employees of the PVK will move to Amsterdam in 2010 when the Apeldoorn offices will be closed.

When the DNB and former regulator PVK merged in 2003 such a move was deemed not at all feasible.

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