NETHERLANDS - Dirk Witteveen, a director at the financial regulator and pensions supervisor De Nederlandsche Bank, has died.

Witteveen, 58, was responsible for supervising the pensions sector.

He was appointed chairman of the former pensions regulator, the PVK, on 1 January 2001. The PVK merged with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) in 2004.

On 1 March 2002 Witteveen became a director of the DNB. In this position, he was the driving force behind the new financial assessment framework, the nFTK, which was designed as a response to the downturn of the financial markets in the early years of this decade.

Witteveen was also a main contributor to the new Pensions Act, which came into force last year.

He had been seriously ill for some time but his condition suddenly deteriorated, a DNB spokesman said.

Between 1982 and 2001, Witteveen worked at the Dutch Treasury as director general for fiscal policy and as director general of fiscal affairs.

Earlier, he was a tax inspector, university tutor and journalist.

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