NETHERLANDS - The Dutch pension system will still be supervised by De Nederlansche Bank (DNB) and the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), according to the government.

The news appeared in the national budget proposals presented by minister of finance Gerrit Zalm to the House of Representatives today.

The decision was made as part of an initiative to "improve the durability" of the pension system, according to the proposals.

There had been calls for pension regulation to be consolidated under a single entity.

And there was confirmation that the new pensions law will be implemented together with the FTK, the new financial assessment framework, on January 1 2007.

The two other objectives of the Dutch pension policy for 2007 are to stimulate and protect pensions and to improve the participants' involvement in pensions.

The government wants to urge social partners to increase the reach of employers' pension commitments to employees by introducing a minimum age of 21 to join pension schemes with the implementation of the new pension law in 2007.

In her yearly pre-budget speech, Queen Beatrix also said the cabinet policies created "the conditions for the conservation of the [state pension] AOW and other collective social facilities for the next generations," making the budget for 2007 "a solid bridge to the future".

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