NETHERLANDS – The €2.5bn pension fund of TNO, the institute for applied technical research in the Netherlands, has outsourced its pensions administration to ING subsidiary AZL as of 1 January.

Three members of the scheme's seven-strong administrative staff will join AZL at its branch in Utrecht, according to Arie van Luijk, deputy director at the pension fund.

Two staff members will be responsible for supervising the outsourcing, while the remaining two will take early retirement.

Joop Ruijgrok, director at the TNO pension fund, cited AZL's quality of service, risk management and the handling of its internal systems and processes.

The Stichting Pensioenfonds TNO has 15,000 participants who are affiliated with not only TNO but also several companies with previous connections with the research institute.

TNO had been carrying out its own pensions administration itself until now.

Arthur van der Wal, director at AZL, said: "By taking over TNO staff, we have created a win/win situation for self-administrating pension funds."

The pension fund of temporary employment provider Randstad, as well as the industry-wide pension funds SPNG and TEX, recently outsourced their administration to AZL.

AZL is now the pensions provider for 64 pension funds, with almost 1m participants.