NETHERLANDS - Dutch pensions research institute Netspar is to subsidise three pension research projects with €3m, the organisation announced today.

It will fund each year three research projects that run for three years in the area of pensions, Netspar spokeswoman Margreet Punt said.

The funding is designed to encourage experienced researchers who have successfully developed an innovative research topic.

This year Rob Alessie of the University of Utrecht and Arthur van Soest of the University of Tilburg, Johan Mackenbach of the Eramus University and Casper van Ewijk of the University of Amsterdam have won.

Starting from April next year, Alessie and Van Soest will research if individuals are satisfied with the level of financial security that pension products deliver.

Mackenbach wants to measure in which way deteriorating health in later years can be prevented, as demographic ageing puts increasingly pressure on social security provisions.

Lastly, Van Ewijk will research the macro-economic aspects of pensions and the reform of pension systems.

The research results will be published in April 2010, but in the meantime Netspar plans to organise pension workshops in which the interim results will be presented, according to Punt.

Elsewhere, the €28bn Pension Fund for Metalworking and Mechanical Engineering will compensate its participants for discounted indexation, it has announced.

The industry-wide scheme, also known as PMT, will pay a recovery indexation of 0.95% for active members. Deferred members and pensioners will receive a compensation of 0.99%, it said.

By granting a recovery indexation, PMT is minimizing the loss for an earlier discount for the second year. Due to its financial position in 2003, it wasn't able to pay a full indexation, it said. Its position has recovered to a funding ratio of over 130%.

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