Industry-wide railways pension fund SPF, has changed from defined benefit(DB) to collective defined contribution (CDC). The new arrangement for SPF, which is one of the 10 largest schemes in the Netherlands, also includes a change to average salary from final salary.
A key reason was the arrival of the IFRS accounting standards. Even though the Dutch Railways (SF) is a non-listed state-owned company, and not caught by accounting rules, it was felt that the company should apply the reporting rules.
If the fund had not made the CDC move, SPF’s position could have an enormous impact on the company’s balance sheet.
SPF has more than 33,000 active members, 25,500 pensioners and 18,200 deferred members.

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