Dutch Pensioenfonds Hoogovens’ current coverage ratio fell from 129.1 per cent in May to 127.2 per cent in June 2025, its funding update has revealed.

Despite a month-to-month drop, the current coverage ratio is a marked improvement from the beginning of 2025, when it was 122.2 per cent.

The pension fund explained that the actuarial interest rate has had a positive effect of 9.3 percentage points on the development of the current funding ratio in 2025, so far.

In the year to 30 June, the value of its invested assets has fallen from €10.41bn to €10.24bn, representing a decrease of €173m. It said the negative return caused the current funding ratio to fall by 0.5 percentage points since the 1 of January.

In addition, the indexation granted in 2025 had a negative effect of approximately 4 percentage points on the funding ratio.

“These are the most important factors that have influenced the funding ratio in 2025 to date. There are a few other factors that had a (smaller) impact on the funding ratio,” the pension fund said.

Regarding its policy funding ratio, which is the average of the coverage ratio over the past 12 months, at the end of June, it rose from 124.1 per cent to 124.3 per cent.

Currently, the policy coverage ratio is 20.3 percentage points lower than the coverage ratio for future indexation (TBI) – the funding ratio from which past ungranted supplements may be recovered.

Earlier this month, European Pensions reported on the funding updates of two other Dutch pension funds.

Pensioenfonds PostNL revealed an increase from 132.5 per cent in May 2025 to 134.1 per cent in June 2025, which it credited to rising interest rates. Meanwhile, the current coverage ratio for the Dutch pension fund SNS Reaal increased from 123.5 per cent to 126.9 per cent in June.

---