The €11bn SBA Artsenpensioenfonds (Pension Funds for General Practitioners and Medical Specialists) says it will overhaul its investment strategy following the departure of three senior staff in a restructuring.
The scheme said it planned to “implement a passive management strategy” for its Pan-European and US large-cap equity portfolios, which represents almost €4bn of its total portfolio.
“Due to this development as the internal managed equity portfolios are put on the index. Therefore the equity team of SBA will no longer initiate transactions,” SBA said.
Bert Bos, SBA’s chief executive, said an “upgrade of investment policy” was the main driver behind the decision. SBA intends to do more in-house research.
Bos denied the policy change had anything to with the performance of the five-strong equity team.
Although he said they would not be sacked, he added: “I am deliberating their task”. Bos further stressed the recent walkout of senior executives was not related to the changes in investment strategy.
SBA Artsenpensioenfondsen is the foundation for joint administration of pension funds for general practitioners and medical specialists.
It manages more than €11bn of investments, of which 44% is in equities.
Earlier it emerged that chief executive Dick Hoek had left – and that the interim head of investments and a deputy director were also let go at the country’s sixth-largest pension fund. The resignations come amid a restructuring of the fund to comply with the country’s new corporate governance code.
SBA is splitting its activities into a board that sets policy, and a separate company looking after administrative and asset management.
Chief executive Bert Bos rejected media speculation that the scheme was in crisis and that there was a power struggle between the doctor’s fund and the medical specialists fund.
Bos stressed the departure of all three senior executives had “absolutely nothing” to do with a power struggle. “Differences of opinion happen in almost every organisation. There is no power struggle. Yes, three senior executives have left, but that has nothing to do with the restructuring,” he said.

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