The €226m pension fund of merchant bank GE Artesia is considering relocating to Belgium or joining the general pension fund (APF) of insurer and Achmea subsidiary Centraal Beheer.
In its 2015 annual report, it said it concluded that both options had great potential, after assessing all other alternatives, including joining the APF for financial service providers.
The scheme’s board said GE Artesia Bank’s sponsor, General Electric, preferred the pension fund’s linking up with the Belgium-based pension fund for its European subsidiaries.
Last year, the €270m General Electric Netherlands sister scheme said it was considering a transfer to Belgium, due to the falling number of participants after its parent company scaled back Dutch activities.
GE Artesia Bank stopped operating in the Netherlands last year.
Its pension fund is looking into the alternative of joining the Centraal Beheer APF, in part because Syntrus Achmea is its pensions provider.
Laurens Roodbol, chairman at the scheme, said he expected a decision would be made within a couple of months.
Together with the pension funds of Van Lanschot Bank, KAS Bank and payment processor Equens, GE Artesia Bank recently looked into the feasibility of launching an APF for financial service providers.
Because an APF offered by a commercial provider or insurer was deemed more attractive, however, the GE Artesia scheme withdrew before the other participants dropped the initiative last March.
The Pensioenfonds GE Artesia Bank is now closed, with approximately 1,140 participants.
No comments yet