NETHERLANDS – The e150bn ABP pension fund has re-branded its insurance division as Loyalis, dropping the former ABP Insurance name in line with legislation to come into the Netherlands from January 1 next year.

The insurance division will adopt the new title from the start of next year, as Marcel Vleugels, a spokesperson at ABP, explains: “As of January 1 it is not allowed to use the name ABP for other activities other than pensions and investments. That means insurance and what we call the savings fund and a few others.”

Under the law change, designed to create a level playing field for insurance companies marketing to the pensions arena, the new company can only market to members of the pension fund on an individual basis if the member already has a product through the former ABP Insurance firm.
The firm can, however, market its services directly to employers.

Furthermore, the law says that insurance firms that are part of pension funds cannot create new products without a recommendation from the fund’s social partners.
“If they ask us to develop a new product then we will do this, but only then,” adds Vleugels.


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