Dutch pension funds are going to report all the costs related to pension management and asset management to their members and other beneficiaries, with separate reporting on transaction costs of asset management, which the Pension Federation classified as a world’s first.

As a response to the call of politicians and the regulator DNB for more transparency in costs earlier this year, the federation has drawn up recommendations about the extent to which and how to be more transparent about their operating costs. These are not without obligation and the umbrella organisation has therefore asked the pension funds to follow the recommendation and to explain any non-compliance at any time.

Better insight into all costs will allow trustee boards to be accountable, and to personalise communication for different target groups. However, the federation realises that this requires considerable efforts from pension funds and has therefore opted for a phased introduction.

Pension Federation director Gerard Riemen, said it was an ambitious goal, especially when it comes to equalise the reporting across the whole sector and the separate reporting on all transaction costs, which are often still hidden in the total costs of asset management.

“Funds will have to work on this together with their asset managers in the Netherlands and abroad. Existing contracts need to be adjusted during or after their term and remember: for asset managers full transparency of transaction costs is a new phenomenon globally. It’s not being done anywhere yet and visualising all these costs will therefore cost time. For that reason a timeframe is also part of the recommendations,” he said.

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