NETHERLANDS - Pensions administrator A&O Fondsmanagement will take over the pension administration activities of Aon Consulting Netherlands.

The 30 employees of Pension Services - part of Aon Consulting's Actuarial Services - will join Rijswijk-based A&O, but will continue their activities from their office in Zwolle, A&O and Aon said in a joint statement.

According to Peter van der Steur, manager clients and board relations at A&O, the takeover includes the 14 pension funds serviced by Aon, as well six schemes which are using Aon's administration package under license.

"All clients will soon be briefed by A&O's management about the consequences of the takeover," said Van der Steur.

A&O's client manager argued the takeover will allow his firm to increase its focus on pension administration, pension communication and board support.

"We will be in a better position to anticipate the increasing demands of supervisors and legislation, which has been made more difficult by the credit crisis," he said.

"When Aon took over consultancy firm Consultas for its actuarial services in 2004, pension administration was part of the deal. However, administration is not a core task to Aon Netherlands," explained Wim Hoek, managing director of Aon Netherlands.

"Because of the differing Dutch pension systems, we found that we couldn't deploy our administration branch and reach a synergy on a European level," Hoek argued.

A&O Fondsmanagement is the sister company of A&O Services, and is tasked with servicing the clients outside A&O's initial target group of painters, decorators and plasterers. The group employs 220 staff at present.

The firm was appointed last year by the €350m Stichting Pensioenfonds Deloitte as its pensions administrator. It now carries out the administration for 75,000 pension funds' participants in total.

Aon Netherlands - part of the US-based Aon Corporation - is a consultant on risk management, employee benefits and insurances. It employs 1600 staff in 11 offices across the Netherlands.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Julie Henderson on + 44 (0)20 7261 4602 or email julie.henderson@ipe.com

Topics