NETHERLANDS – Former PVK board member PJC Keizer has been named as the new Dutch Pensions Ombudsman. He will take over from J de Ruiter on May 1.

He was named to the post by the Company Pension Funds Organisation OPF, or Stichting voor Ondernemingspensioenfondsen, and the Dutch Association of Industry–wide Pension Funds VB or Vereniging van Bedrijfstakpensioenfondsen.

Keizer, 54, is a former secretary and board member at the pension and insurance regulator PVK or Pensioen- & Verzekeringskamer.

There has been tension between the pension fund associations and the PVK recently over the regulator’s requirements on coverage ratios. The VB and OPF called the proposals “unnecessary and bad for the economy”.

They argued that if pension funds are to continue paying out good pensions against acceptable cost levels, then they have to be allowed to take on controlled risks in the short term.