NETHERLANDS - Interpolis' head of asset management Herman Bril has left the Dutch insurer to join Aegon where he will lead the firm's treasury and capital management activities.

Aegon announced this today in a press release, saying that Bril will join the firm in March next year.

Interpolis is currently looking for a new head of asset management.

Meanwhile Otto Veldt, head of financial pension and asset management, would take over his duties, a spokeswoman said.

Bril, who was closely involved in the integration of Achmea's pension division recently, was head of asset management at Interpolis for over three years.

Meanwhile, Dutch Social Affairs' minister Aart Jan de Geus has asked independent experts for advice on the sustainability of additional pensions within a European context.

Legal expert Berend Drijber and company finance expert Arnoud Boot, will look into developments in the European market for company pension provision, de Geus said in a letter to parliament.

According to the minister, Drijber will survey the legal aspects of competition. Boot will make an analysis from a market-economic point of view.

"The studies are necessary, because the aim of an internal European market for financial services, could affect the regime of mandatory participation in pension schemes, which is an important aspect of the Dutch mandatory collective pensions provision," de Geus said.

"As part of their research, Drijber and Boot will also look at the possible removal of barriers in the implementation of pension schemes, in order to properly use the options of a European market," he added.

Drijber is a specialist on competition law and European law. He is a partner at the legal firm Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn. Previously, he has worked at the legal service of the European Commission.

Boot is professor company finances and financial markets at Amsterdam University. He is advisor of the Central Bank of Sweden, and is a deputy crown-member of the Social and Economic Council, or SER.

De Geus' initiative follows a resolution - tabled during the readings of the Pensions Bill - in which parliament asked to allow a separation between governance and management at pension funds, a spokeswoman explained.

De Geus will inform parliament about the results before April 1 2007, he said.

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