The Dutch pension administrator Achmea Pensioenservices (APS) will cease servicing external pension fund clients by 1 January 2028. Achmea has concluded it lacks the scale to be competitive, after its largest fund client Rabobank Pensioenfonds switched to another administrator last year.

Achmea’s remaining clients include the two Dutch Shell pension funds, Pensioenfonds Ahold Delhaize, the professional funds for veterinarians and physiotherapists, the sector scheme for insurance companies SBZ Pensioen, as well as several smaller company pension schemes.

The firm will terminate its admin services to these pension funds once they have made the transition to a new defined contribution (DC) arrangement.

Last month, the veterinarians’ and physiotherapists’ schemes postponed their transition to DC to October because of admin problems at Achmea.

APS said in a press release that its “modest market share” on the pension admin market is insufficient “to be relevant”.

The recent departure of the Rabobank pension fund does not make it easier to reach the necessary scale to become profitable, the firm admitted in its press release.

APS is chronically loss-making and saw its operational losses double last year to €63m. Achmea, which also runs a pension asset manager with Achmea Investment Management, has reserved another €175m to wind down its admin operations.

Lay-offs

Daphne de Kluis, member of the board of directors and responsible for the pension company, commented: “This is not an easy decision. Achmea has a long and rich tradition in the field of pension administration services. However, it is not possible to turn APS profitable, and a scenario of scaling up comes with too many uncertainties.

“In the coming years, our focus will be on properly transferring our existing customers to the new pension system and guiding them to another pension provider.”

APS has some 350 employees, many of whom will lose their jobs as a consequence of the decision.

According to Achmea, work will remain “for a reasonable number of employees” because the firm will continue to provide admin services to its own brands that include its own company pension scheme, pooled pension fund Centraal Beheer APF and Centraal Beheer PPI, an individual DC arrangement for companies.

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Tjibbe is IPE's Netherlands correspondent. He splits his time between IPE and its Dutch-language sister publication Pensioen Pro. Before joining IPE following a move back to Amsterdam, Tjibbe worked in London for several years writing about fund selection and portfolio construction trends.View full Profile

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