LUXEMBOURG - The European Court of Auditors has appointed Belgian actuary ESOFAC to look into the unfunded pension arrangements for the civil servants at the European Union.

Over the next six months the actuarial firm will test the methodological approach of previous liability calculations in the ‘so-called' Pension Scheme of European Officials (PSEO) and look into the 2006 liabilities.

An earlier evaluation for the scheme, which covers nearly 55,000 members, revealed an actuarial loss for the year 2005 of €5.5bn.

ESOFAC Belgium was set up in September 2005 by former Aon employees Anne Thiry and Karen Vande Sype who were later joined by Anne Claes, former co-head of Aon Consulting in Belgium, and Frédéric Compté from London-based consultant Towers Perrin.

The firm is part of ESOFAC Insurance Services (EIS) which also has a subsidiary in Luxembourg. The Belgian branch now has six employees, five of which are partners. ESOFAC confirmed it has won the mandate with the European Court of Auditors but told IPE it could not comment further.

According to the contract award notice, the court had received eight tenders. No spokesperson could be reached for further comment.