Jacques van Dijken, the new president of PensionsEurope, wants to rid the organisation of its two-tier membership structure, giving every country equal influence
The current distinction of A- and B-memberships at PensionsEurope, the association for European pension funds, is “artificial and archaic” and needs reform, according to the organisation’s new president Jacques Van Dijken.
“The aim of PensionsEurope is to make the combined voice of the world of funded pensions heard. The best way to do that is if everyone is equal,” Van Dijken told IPE’s sister publication Pensioen Pro in an interview.
Currently, PensionsEurope has a two-tier membership structure with A-members and B-members.
Both member categories have a vote in the organisation’s general assembly. Additionally, A-members also have a seat in the PensionsEurope board in exchange for an additional membership fee based on pension assets under management in their respective countries.
Currently, PensionsEurope has six A-members, of which only the Netherlands has a sizeable second pillar. Other countries with large second pillar systems, like Sweden and Denmark (see box below), are B-members.
Van Dijken wants to rid PensionsEurope of its two-tier structure to get all countries “behind our mission to increase the importance of second pillar pensions,” he said.
Associate members
Besides reforming the membership structure, Van Dijken also wants to increase PensionsEurope’s base of associate members. These include actuaries, asset managers, custodian banks and lawyers, but membership expansion in this category has come to a halt over the past 10 years.
“I want to breathe new life into this,” said Van Dijken. “These players have a lot of knowledge and useful input. I wouldn’t want to make them a member, but I would like to make them a partner, in exchange for a modest contribution.”
He added: “There are topics that we sometimes have to let go because of a lack of people. Think of harmonising bankruptcy laws in Europe. That would really make investing easier. So yes, one or two more people wouldn’t be crazy. But growth is not an end in itself. Hopefully, second-pillar pensions in Europe will become larger. Then we will grow with it.”
Policy agenda
If there’s one issue Van Dijken would like to address during his tenure, it would be “the role of the ECB [European Central Bank] in the repo market,” he said.
In the event of major interest rate shocks, financial institutions can access the repo market for cash as collateral for their interest rate derivatives.
The ECB has its own repo facility that’s open to banks in times of liquidity constraints. Van Dijken wants the ECB to “open up its repo facility for banks to pension funds as well.”
He added: “This has been an issue for years, but the ECB does not want to touch it yet. In the US and the UK, this has been done at times of crisis. Maybe the ECB will do it when it is really necessary. But it would be good to manage expectations about this now. PensionsEurope is committed to this. The Netherlands has the greatest interest in this because of its sizeable LDI-portfolios, but other countries must also hedge their interest rate risk on pension liabilities.”
UK and Denmark exit
The UK left PensionsEurope as a member at the end of 2023, PensionsEurope director Matti Leppälä told IPE. From 2019, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) had already downgraded its membership from A- to B-status.
As of 2024, the PLSA left the organisation altogether as it no longer saw benefits in remaining a member, as European regulations no longer apply in the UK after Brexit, according to Leppälä.
The PLSA, which still says on its website it “participates in European issues through PensionsEurope,” did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
Van Dijken said he was sad to see the UK leave the organisation, not least because of the UK’s large second pillar pension system, as a result of which the country tends to be aligned with the Netherlands.
“It’s very unfortunate, we were very close to them,” he said. “I will travel to the UK during my term to see how we can work together again. Of course, the British are no longer subject to many European regulations but they also benefit from well-functioning capital markets in Europe,” he added.
Separately, Insurance & Pension Denmark (IPD) will also relinquish its membership of PensionsEurope at the end of this year.
“The reason is quite simple,” a spokesperson told IPE. “Our sector is subject to the Solvency II regulations, which are not aligned with those of the other members of PensionsEurope.”
This article was first published on Pensioen Pro, IPE’s Dutch sister publication
Maarten van Wijk is editor in chief, online, at Pensioen Pro, IPE’s Dutch sister publicationView full Profile
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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