The €100bn asset manager and pensions provider MN has announced it would embark on a four-year restructuring programme.
During the process – aimed at cutting costs and adjusting its services to changes in the pensions system – the company is to shed more than 200 fulltime jobs, it said.
In a statement, it said, to maintain its position as one of the largest asset managemers and pension providers in the Netherlands, it needed to anticipate the trend of consolidation, changes to the pensions system, new pension plans and flexible labour.
It said its clients not only demanded a smooth incorporation of new legal rules, modern management of pension schemes and social plans, but also wanted increasingly efficient processes and adequate communication.
Ruud Hagendijk, chief executive, said: “Anticipating developments in the world around us is no voluntary option but a hard necessity to remain in the top of service providers.”
Following ongoing automatisation of work processess, as well as the option of hiring capacity for temporary projects, MN said it wanted to reduce its workforce of 1,250 staff to a “rational scale”.
It added that staff reduction would be carried out in cooperation with the unions and the company’s works council, and that the focus would be on education and relocating redundant staff elsewhere in the organisation.
Michiel Cleij, spokesman for MN, said it unclear in which departments exactly staff cuts would be made, or whether there would be forced redundancies.
MN is the provider for the large metal schemes PME and PMT, as well as the €3.5bn pension fund for the merchant navy.
It carries out the pensions administration for almost 2m people affiliated with 36,000 employers in the Netherlands and the UK.
MN’s UK operation would be equally affected by the restructuring, according to Cleij, who could not provide further details.
Earlier, the large asset managers and pension providers APG and PGGM announced similar changes to their organisation, including significant staff reduction.
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