IPE's Netherlands Coverage – Page 154
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News
ABP, PME and PMT see positive gains so far
[16:30 CEST 15-07] NETHERLANDS – Three of the Netherlands' largest pension funds saw significant improvements to their investment returns and cover ratios during the last three months, though PME said it is still awaiting regulatory approval of its recovery plan.
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News
Pensions deficits grow to €1.7bn at Philips
[16:45 CEST 14-09] GLOBAL – Philips, the electronics manufacturer, has reported the deficit on its defined benefits pensions plans now stands at over €1.7bn globally as a result of negative market activity in the last six months.
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News
Rabobank agrees new terms with Syntrus Achmea
[13:30 CEST 02-07] NETHERLANDS - The €11.7bn pension fund of Rabobank will maintain its contract with pension provider Syntrus Achmea, after agreeing new conditions for improved service.
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News
KPN to step up risk after 14.5% loss
[16:20 CEST 13-05] NETHERLANDS - The €3.6bn pension fund of telecoms provider KPN limited its loss in 2008 to 14.5% as a result of a 70%-hedge on its interest rate risk, but officials have plans to increase its alpha risk this year.
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News
ABP comes close to 100% again
[12:00 CEST 12-05] NETHERLANDS - The funding ratio of ABP, the largest Dutch pension fund for civil servants, is hovering in the region of 95% to 100%, Harry Borghouts, interim president, said yesterday at the presentation of ABP’s annual report.
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News
Study: big not always beautiful for pensions
[16:15 CEST 08-05] NETHERLANDS - It is generally accepted that small pension funds perform less well than their bigger brothers, but economies of scale can also work the other way around, suggests a new study conducted in the Netherlands.
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News
Equity bounce limited PfZW and PMT falls
[16:15 CEST 23-04] NETHERLANDS – PfZW and PMT, the giant industry-wide pension funds for healthcare and metal industry workers, suffered losses of over 4% in the first quarter of this year, despite a slight recovery in equity markets last month.
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News
Hoogovens' recovery enacted despite hedge
[16:30 CEST 22-04] NETHERLANDS - Falling interest rates as well as an negative returns on equities caused the cover ratio of Stichting Pensioenfonds Hoogovens to fall from 135.8% in 2007 to 105.5% a year later, even though the scheme had applied a sizeable interest rate hedge.
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News
BPF Bouw is confident of recovery
[14:00 CEST 22-04] NETHERLANDS - BPF Bouw, the €24.2bn scheme for the building industry, expects to eliminate its funding shortfall within three years by raising contributions and halting indexation.
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News
TNO recovery requires no major change
[16:10 CEST 17-04] NETHERLANDS - The €1.8bn pension fund of TNO expects to recover from its cover shortfall by raising its contributions and refraining from paying indexation.
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News
DNB pension ups fixed income allocation
[14:30 CEST 14-04] NETHERLANDS - The €880m pension fund of pensions regulator De Nederlandsche Bank has downgraded its investment risks by divesting equity in favour of fixed income investments.
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News
Shell reduces equities to meet recovery plan
[14:00 CEST 14-04] NETHERLANDS – The Dutch pension fund of Royal Dutch Shell Group is hoping to return its funding ratio to the minimum statutory level of 105% by October 2011, through a series of changes including alterations to its asset allocation.
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Features
In the real world
Nina Röhrbein discusses indexation policy and inflation protection with Mariëtte Simons, director at the Utrecht-based Pensioenfonds SNS Reaal
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News
DNB’s own pension fund must submit recovery plan
[16:00 CET 23-03] NETHERLANDS - The financial buffers of the Dutch financial regulator’s own pension fund have dropped below the minimum level set by the regulator.
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Country ReportFunds see risk in a different light
Lessons are being learned from the crisis and painful questions are being asked. Mariska van der Westen examines what they are
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Country ReportWeathering the storm
Although Dutch pension funds have all seen their funding ratios decline in the wake of the credit crisis, some have managed to limit the damage. Three funds share their strategies with Mariska van der Westen and Leen Preesman
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Country ReportBoost for new formations
The financial freeze is certain to speed up the trend towards consolidation in the pensions arena as costs soar and companies seek to hand over pension liabilities, finds Mariska van der Westen
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News
Smaller funds advised to claim tax refund
[16:20 CET 26-02] NETHERLANDS – Dutch pension funds are being advised to safeguard their rights to the refund of dividend withholding tax in European countries, as recent cases in both the Netherlands and France suggest taxes claimed in contravention of EU rules may also have been taken by governments elsewhere.
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News
Schemes granted five years recovery – but is it enough?
[16:35 CET 24-02] NETHERLANDS - Dutch minister of social affairs and labour Piet Hein Donner has confirmed he will allow pension funds with a funding shortfall – now approximately half of all Dutch funds – to have up to five years to bring their solvency ratios up to 105%, rather than the three years the Dutch Pension Ac currently prescribes.
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News
Trade bodies warn against hard-hitting measures
[11:00 CET 16-02] NETHERLANDS - Dutch pension funds’ lobbying organisations have warned they will oppose any recovery measures that are could hit schemes’ participants hard, as long as it is not clear whether the consequences of the credit crunch will be lasting.
