The €140m company pension fund of Dutch human resources manager GITP is to be liquidated after the employer cancelled the contract for pensions provision as of 1 January 2015.
On its website, the pension fund said it had been unable to secure annual pensions accrual of more than 1.45% with the current contribution of 20% agreed by workers and the sponsor.
In the opinion of the social partners, any future pensions provider must be able to deliver better accrual.
According to Bas Rietdijk, chairman of the pension fund, joining an insurer would be an “unattractive alternative”.
The scheme’s board will instead assess whether joining an industry-wide scheme – such as the pension fund for the graphics industry (PGB) with its flexible arrangements – could offer a better proposition.
Rietdijk also dismissed the possibility of a closed scheme.
“In any case, our participants prefer a collective pension plan,” he said.
The GITP board said it was struggling with the added costs of meeting new legal requirements, as well as the falling number of active participants, resulting in less income from contributions.
It also complained that stricter governance requirements had hindered its efforts to find qualified trustees.
The Pensioenfonds GITP has 830 participants, of whom 255 are active.
Its current funding is 107.7%, after consecutive cuts of pension rights of 7% and 4.2%.
Last year, the scheme returned 0.5% on investments.
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