BELGIUM – Henk Becquaert, principal private secretary to Belgian pensions minister Bruno Tobback, has left the post.

Becquaert, one of the architects of the Vandenbroucke law, left the role at the beginning of 2005 to join the banking, finance and insurance commission, the supervisory authority for the Belgian financial sector. Steven Janssen has taken his place.

Meanwhile, Tobback is expected to deliver a keynote address speech next month at a conference organised by consultant Akkermans Stroobants & Partners.

Tobback, a Socialist Party MP who took over the pensions brief in July 2004, will start the event called “National Debate on Pensions”, expressing his views on Belgium’s pension situation.

The conference, which will take place in Brussels on June 22, is expected to be attended by pension funds and other players in the pension industry, organiser Betty Visker told IPE.

Last July Tobback launched a pension hotline to advise citizens. “This is to improve information and overall service quality to pensioners,” Tobback told IPE in an interview.

Akkermans Stroobants & Partners was joined last October by former Belgian pensions minister Freddy Willockx.