NETHERLANDS – MN Services’ account management head, Jan Bertus Molenkamp, is to leave – the latest in a series of departures that sources suggest are related to a restructuring at the pension firm.

Molenkamp, 39, plans to leave the third largest Dutch pensions asset management company at the end of the month.

He is the most recent in a string of senior staff departures at the company, which manages €26.5bn of assets.

Internal restructuring has been mostly to blame for these departures, said sources close to the company. In a bid to improve efficiency, structural changes were initiated in June this year with the announcement of Wouter Pelser as co-head of asset management.

MN’s decision to integrate pensions and investment management is resulting in a clash, said a source. “They are two entirely different ball games,” the person said. “This centralization is taking the challenge away from investment management especially.”

There are fears that this may cause a ripple effect among staff. The centralisation process seems to be squeezing people out, said one source. “You can guess that something is causing the move. While I am positive about the company on the whole, there is no coincidence that people are leaving.”

MN Services spokesperson Ellen Twickler declined to comment on this claim.

Molenkamp became head of account management in 2003 after five years as head of risk management and decision support. As leader of the account management, strategy and acquisition activities teams, he played a key role in establishing his department and expanding the company’s client base.

He is planning to continue his research at Amsterdam’s VU University and “will take time out to consider his options,” said Twickler.

Hans van Gastel and commercial director Pieter Kiveron today became temporary leaders of the account management and strategy teams, and acquisition activities respectively.

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