Netherlands Conference report

European Pensions' Netherlands Summit – Staying ahead of the game

Under its overall theme, European Pensions' recent Netherlands summit touched on a wealth of individual challenges, reports Sophie Baker. In the heart of Amsterdam, delegates, pension professionals and fund representatives tackled the challenges faced by pension schemes there and elsewhere in Europe.

Craig Burnett, head of European Defined Contribution (DC) consulting at financial consultant Mercer, held the reins as chairman, introducing speakers and summarising their complex and often controversial presentations.
Mario Michael Schulz, senior project manager at Deutsche Börse AG, kicked off proceedings by outlining how Xpect, the group's longevity data platform, works. He said the model is a useful resource for the media when focusing on the topical issue of longevity in Europe.

Yvette van Gemerden, partner at the employment, pensions and benefits division of law firm DLA Piper Netherlands, gave an update on the Dutch Pensions Act, which sets out employer-employee agreements on pensions. Article 19 is an integral part that details the provisions for any amendment. "Many Dutch pension schemes contain such a clause," she added, enabling parts of the agreement important enough for amendment to be modified.

A presentation followed from Anton van Nunen, director of advisory company, Van Nunen & Partners, on fiduciary management. He said the concept enjoys growing success in the Netherlands, helped by heavy regulation and regulatory burdens for Dutch institutions. "Fiduciary management is a way to cope with an unfriendly environment," said van Nunen. "After the gestation period, it will take off wherever there is an unfriendly environment." He was critical of UK consultants, who "have done a very bad job over the last 20 years," and expects them to ultimately become redundant.

Serge Cadelli, chief operating officer and chief risk officer at RMF Investment Management, followed this rousing presentation by tackling an equally thorny issue with an overview of the challenges for hedge funds.
Next in line was Kerry Ann White, head of multinational business development at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, who advocated the case for pooling. Reviewing the key trends for global pensions, such as a move towards defined contribution and hybrid schemes, and the implementation of global asset management and controls, she argued that pooling enables investors with separately managed asset portfolios to combine assets into a single portfolio for economies of scale. White dubbed lending from a pensions pool as a smart way to structure assets for a large, evenly-distributed fund, but expects it will be a while until this becomes "mainstream". Renske Biezeveld, policy advisor at the Dutch Association of Industry-wide pension funds (VB) focused on the Financieel Toetsings Kader (FTK) regulatory system introduced in 2007. He reviewed the FTK’s workings, the debate and criticism it aroused, its situation in the market and its future. He concluded that the FTK "will keep the pension fund sector busy for many years to come."

Erik Leseman of the CFA Society of the Netherlands and head of the fixed income sovereign team at AEGON Asset Management examined the CFA’s Code of Conduct for Members of a Pension Scheme Governing Body, rolled out last June. He explained the reasoning behind the Code and the development process before reviewing the Code in more detail.

Kris Douma, head of responsible investment and active ownership at Mn Services, addressed the hot topic of Responsible Investment for pension funds, starting with a background to the concept before moving onto the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). He stressed that PRI is not hype, but is "here to stay".

To close the conference, Edwina Neal, a board member at APG Investments and CIO Equities, explained APG's pension investing via a two-pillar strategy, which features two investment portfolios; an Income Portfolio and a Growth Portfolio.

Speaker presentations are available on www.europeanpensions.net/netherlands