IPE AWARDS - Belgium's Pensioenfonds KBC was named Best European Pension Fund 2007 at the seventh annual IPE Awards ceremony in Vienna tonight.

The €900m fund also picked up three other awards as Best Corporate Pension Fund, Best Small Pension Fund and Best Belgian Pension Fund, before finally receiving the crowning position as best scheme among its peers for 2007.

"Pensioenfonds KBC has deservedly taken no fewer than four awards this year, and its approach to liability management stood out from among the many high quality entrants to win it the Best Corporate Pension Fund award for 2007," commented Liam Kennedy, editor of IPE, on the scheme's success.

"We extend our warm congratulations to Edwin Meysmans, managing director of Pensioenfonds KBC, and to his team," he added.

Collecting the Best Corporate Pension Fund and Best European Pension Fund for KBC, awards, Edwin Meysmans said: "I'd like to share this award with the other pension funds of Belgium. We don't have a government, but we have very good pension funds.

"We had a seminar earlier in the day [at the IPE Awards Seminar] asking whether small pension funds can do better than large pension funds. I think this award shows we can score better," he added.