NETHERLANDS - The €73m pension fund for furniture retailer Ikea has placed its pension administration with Syntrus Achmea, making it the fourth company scheme to do so in the last two months.

Syntrus Achmea spokesman Erik van der Struijs, explaining his company's recent success, said: "As we have merged all our services for company pension funds into a single platform, we are now ready to receive new customers."

He also attributed the development to the appointment of an account director, who has been specifically tasked with acquiring new customers.

BP's €670m Dutch pension fund recently selected Syntrus Achmea, citing its predecessor's "good experience" with the company, as well as the "beneficial price-quality ratio".

Earlier, Syntrus Achmea won business from the new Dutch pension fund of the Royal Bank of Scotland and the €146m civil service scheme for the Dutch Caribbean.

According to Van der Struijs, Syntrus Achmea is busy setting up a single platform for industry-wide pension funds, which is expected to become operational at the end of the year.

Syntrus Achmea currently handles administration or asset management for more than 80 company schemes and industry-wide pension funds.

In recent years, however, it has lost several clients, with some expressing dissatisfaction with its service.

The €2.2bn industry-wide scheme for the bakery sector, for example, recently replaced Syntrus Achmea with TKP for its administration.

Leo van Beekum, employees chairman at TKP, said accuracy had "fallen short of expectations" and that the decision had been made after several years of unhappiness with performance.