May 2021
25May

Dutch manager APG forms joint venture to help ABP invest in Chilean forests

Dutch pensions provider APG formed a joint venture on behalf of its largest pension fund client to invest in forests in Chile. On behalf of the €495.3 billion ($601.5 billion) ABP, Heerlen, Netherlands, APG formed the company with British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and South American investment bank BTG Pactual's timber investment group. BCI has C$171.3 billion ($141.4 billion) in AUM. The new venture will invest $385.5 million in forestry in Chile, owning more than 80,000 hectares of Chilean forest across...

May 25, 2021
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13May

Netherlands: Postponement of pension reforms

Last year, social partners and the Dutch government reached an agreement on pension reforms in the Netherlands. The agreement’s aims - amongst others – is to abolish defined benefit schemes and to prescribe flat rates for defined contribution schemes. It was expected that the reforms would enter into force through an accelerated legislative approval process from 1 January 2022 (with a transition period from 2022 to 2026). However, since the legislation took more time than expected to be prepared,...

May 13, 2021
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07May

Dutch government think tank wants more flexible pensions

The Centraal Plan Bureau (CPB), a Dutch government think tank, has proposed Dutch workers save less for their pensions so they can increase their liquid financial buffers. The CPB has criticised the “lack of flexibility” of the Dutch pension system in a new policy brief. “More flexibility in the way Dutch pensions are being accumulated would be beneficial given the low levels of liquid assets of Dutch households,” the think tank said. A quarter of households with more than €100,000 in...

May 7, 2021
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April 2021
15Apr

Are Dutch pensions hesitant to absorb direct real estate write-offs?

Dutch pension funds reported substantially higher returns on their direct real estate returns in 2020 than on their investments in listed real estate equities during the same period. Despite the heavy losses in segments of the real estate market as a result of the coronavirus lockdowns, the value of Dutch pension funds’ direct real estate investments as reported to pensions regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) increased by 1% to €83.5bn compared with a reported decrease of 7% to €56.7bn for listed real estate. The...

April 15, 2021
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07Apr

Australia. Dutch pension giant boosts local exposure with $350m EG investment

Dutch pension giant PGGM doubled down on its investment in Australian commercial real estate, putting $350 million into a diversified fund managed by EG less than six months after entering into an $800 million partnership with Charter Hall. PGGM joins four other investors in the open-ended diversified EG Australian Core Enhanced Fund (ACE) which in the past two years has spent $234 million on three industrial properties, a Bunnings near Sydney Airport and a Perth office tower. Read more @Financial Review 504...

April 7, 2021
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February 2021
16Feb

€573bn Dutch pension group appoints first female CEO

Dutch pension group APG has appointed Annette Mosman as chief executive officer, the firm has announced. Mosman will assume the role on 1 March 2021 succeeding Gerard van Olphen, who will be stepping down in April of this year for personal reasons. Mosman is a member of the board of directors and has been chief finance and risk officer since February 2018. She will also be the firm’s first female CEO. Pieter Jongstra, chairman of the supervisory board, said: ‘For the pension...

February 16, 2021
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10Feb

Dutch pensions federation wants auto-enrolment for self-employed

The new pensions law proposed by the Dutch government provides insufficient room for pension funds to cater for self-employed workers, the Dutch branch organisation of pension funds, Pensioenfederatie, has warned. It has called for a “significant change” to the draft legislation, including the option of auto-enrolment. Read also Investigation: Dutch, Japanese pension funds pay for Amazon deforestation Several large sector funds have voiced their interest to start trials offering pensions to self-employed workers under the new pension law which will pave...

February 10, 2021
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05Feb

Investigation: Dutch, Japanese pension funds pay for Amazon deforestation

Two pension funds in the Netherlands and one from Japan have invested a combined half a billion dollars in Brazil’s top three meatpackers. These investments in cattle ranching, an industry that’s the main driver of Amazon deforestation, contradict the environmental stances of the respective funds and their national governments. The fund managers and other experts say maintaining their stake is a more effective way of pushing for change in the companies than simply dumping the stock. But there’s also a growing realization...

February 5, 2021
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January 2021
07Jan

UK. Regulators and police say Covid lockdowns have driven up online pension scams and demand regulation of Google, Facebook and others

As people spend longer shopping online, scammers pounce through Google and Facebook.Online pension scams run through social media sites are surging as people are stuck at home in lockdown, regulators and police warned MPs today. Scammers have become increasingly skilled at advertising fake pension investments through Google, Facebook and other digital means, and the increased use of the internet by the public to buy shopping and services has created a fertile environment for the scammers, officials from the Financial Conduct...

January 7, 2021
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07Jan

Dutch schemes slow to implement RI agreement

Not a single one of the more than 80 Dutch pension funds that signed an agreement on furthering responsible investment two years ago has yet implemented all of its guidelines, a monitoring commission has found. The commission has found this “worrisome”, it said in a report it published just before Christmas. The so-called IMVB-convenant – an agreement for international responsible investing – has been signed by more than 80 pension funds, accounting for more than 90% of total Dutch pension...

January 7, 2021
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