All Notes from the Netherlands articles

  • Notes from the Netherlands
    Opinion Pieces

    Disagreements over pension reform persist in the Netherlands

    October 2024 (Magazine)

    When King Willem-Alexander read out his speech at the opening of the Dutch parliament, the topic of pensions was missing. 

  • Notes from the Netherlands
    Opinion Pieces

    Could Dutch pension reforms still be reversed?

    April 2024 (Magazine)

    1 January 2025: that’s the day the first Dutch pension funds will move to a defined contribution (DC) system according to the new Pension Act. So the clock is ticking for politicians who still hope to reverse the pension changes, or give members a say on the mandatory conversion of defined benefit (DB) accruals to DC capital, the most controversial part of the pension reform. 

  • Notes from the Netherlands
    Opinion Pieces

    Opponents of Dutch pension reform can’t agree

    February 2024 (magazine)

    The Dutch parliamentary elections of 22 November not only resulted in a historic victory for Geert Wilders. The record loss of the governing coalition also meant the new Pension Act no longer has majority support in parliament.  

  • Notes from the Netherlands
    Opinion Pieces

    Election result is bad news for the pension sector

    December 2023 (Magazine)

    NSC, the new political party that made headlines in this publication with its controversial plan to block pension funds from converting DB pensions to DC without explicit consent from members, did not win the landslide victory that many pension executives feared. But they probably did not get a good night’s sleep anyway. 

  • Notes from the Netherlands
    Opinion Pieces

    Don't expect Dutch pension funds to make a big move to alternative investments

    October 2023 (Magazine)

    It is often assumed that the upcoming pension reform in the Netherlands will lead pension funds to increase their allocations to alternative assets as their policy priorities will move from protecting their funding ratios to providing indexation for their members. 

  • Tjibbe Hoekstra at IPE
    Opinion Pieces

    Notes from the Netherlands: Inflation could bolster pension reforms

    March 2022 (Magazine)

    The Dutch pension agreement, paving the way for a change from a defined benefit to defined contribution-type system, was concluded in the pre-COVID summer of 2019. But it is still waiting to be implemented, with the delay blamed on the protracted negotiations following Dutch parliamentary elections in March 2021. 

  • Tjibbe Hoekstra
    Opinion Pieces

    Notes from the Netherlands: It’s the implementation, stupid

    January 2022 (Magazine)

    The Dutch pensions regulator, DNB, praised pension funds in a recent report for having better structures in place to manage their exposure to climate risk than banks and insurance firms. But as always, the devil is in the detail. 

  • Screenshot 2021-11-26 at 15.31.06
    Opinion Pieces

    Notes from the Netherlands: Too eager to index

    December 2021 (Magazine)

    Most Dutch pensioners have been craving indexation ever since the financial crisis in 2008-09. Understandably, patience is running thin, especially now that inflation has reached its highest level since the introduction of the euro. 

  • Opinion Pieces

    Notes from the Netherlands: Truly Paris aligned

    September 2021 (Magazine)

    A milestone was reached in July when the first Dutch pension fund announced its divestment from fossil fuels. Surprisingly, the fund in question was neither civil service scheme ABP nor healthcare fund PFZW, the two largest Dutch funds, both of which have the ambition to be leaders in sustainable and responsible.