The ‘uniform pensions statement’ (UPO) in the Netherlands is to be simplified, and an interactive online pensions dashboard introduced, under new communication rules that come into effect with revisions to the financial assessment framework (FTK).

Emile Soetendal, pensions policy coordinator at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said the government would also launch a new grading system to indicate the quality of a pension plan.

Speaking at the IIR pensions conference in Amsterdam, Soetendal said the new UPO would only show accrued pension rights, and refer to the national pensions registry for an employee’s combined pension claims.

Pension providers will also be given the choice of whether to dispense information to participants in print or electronically.

He said the responsibilities of the employer and the pensions provider in the communication process would otherwise remain the same.

An extensive personal online financial dashboard is to become part of the new communication tools.

The instrument – currently under development by regulator AFM, the €140bn pensions provider PGGM and the social security bank SVB – is to contain “layered” information about purchasing power and savings targets and include several “scenarios”, including major life events, for spending potential after retirement.

Jeroen van den Bosch of the AFM said the pensions dashboard would preferably function as an extension of the existing pensions register, and be jointly operated by pension funds and the SVB, as provider of the state pension AOW.

During the congress, he showed a beta version of the system, which can also detail third-pillar pensions provided by banks.

According to Soetendal, the draft legislation is to be presented before year-end.

It is scheduled to come into force, together with the new FTK, on 1 January 2015.

 

 

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