Dutch roundup: Gasunie, Chevron, ASR, TNO, ING Bank, NN Group

The €1.5bn Pensioenfonds Gasunie has announced that it expects to grant its workers an indexation of 1.5% this year.

It warned, however, that maintaining this level of indexation over the coming years looked unlikely. 

The scheme’s active participants, based on the collective labour agreement, are entitled to an indexation based on the salary index, equating to approximately 2%. 

The pension fund, however, argues that the indexation reserve of €22.3m – set up by participating employers in 2013, with the introduction of new pension arrangements – is too small to achieve full inflation compensation.

It said it will focus instead on the consumer index, although it warned that granting indexation on this basis in future would be “very difficult”.

The board said deferred participants and pensioners would be ineligible for inflation compensation, as the pension fund’s funding of 105.5% at year-end was insufficient.

In other news, the Dutch pension fund of energy giant Chevron, which transferred its accrued assets to insurer ASR at the end of 2014, has negotiated full indexation in arrears of up to 6.34%, drawn on its coverage ratio of 127%.

ASR also agreed to increase the regular indexation of 80% “slightly”, according to the Chevron scheme’s website.

The pension fund, which is now in liquidation, had assets of €370m and offered final salary arrangements.

At ASR, pensions accrual follows the consumer index.

Meanwhile, the €3bn pension fund of technical research institute TNO is to increase pension rights by 0.05% for all of its participants, based on a funding of 111.7% at year-end.

The TNO scheme follows the consumer index, which does not take taxes or levies into account.

Lastly, the new collective defined contribution schemes of ING Bank and NN Group are to grant an indexation of 0.19% and 0.20%, respectively, based on the consumer index.

Earlier, the Pensioenfonds ING said participants and pensioners at ING Bank and NN Group would receive indexation of 1.25% and 0.5%, respectively, drawn on salary developments.

It had already granted all deferred participants and pensioners at ING Bank and NN Group, who are subject to the consumer index, an indexation of 0.44%.