NETHERLANDS - Dutch occupational pension association BPVT has lined up a five-strong board after sacking the entire board of its €1.5bn pension fund SPT in a dispute over a new governance structure.

Peter Czaikowsky - chairman at the BPVT, the association for dentists in the Netherlands - said he was waiting for approval by supervisor De Nederlandsche Bank.

He added that the proposed board consisted of two dentists and three independent experts.

Pending the DNB's decision, the corporate court in Amsterdam might appoint an administrator next week, the chairman said.

The board of the closed and non-mandatory pension fund had recommended merging the co-decision-making responsibilities of the BPVT and the scheme's accountability body into a single organisation of participants.

It had also proposed amending the scheme's articles of association to allow for a change into a mutual insurance company or a new pension vehicle PPI.

Lex van Gool, former chairman at the SPT, explained to IPE that this would "drive managements costs down".

In his opinion, since the mandatory participation of the pension fund had been lifted, the BPVT's only task was appointing board members, and this task could be taken over by the scheme's participants council.

After the BPVT declined to re-appoint Van Gool and a fellow-board member in January, it decided to sack the remaining three board members last week.

This happened during a general meeting, following an injunction won by SPT, and forcing the occupation association to co-operate on proposals for joint decision-making and the appointment of new board members.

Czaikowsky said: "We want the maximum right of say in the pension scheme on behalf of our members and participants."

He stressed that the association was the owner of the pension plan and its assets and that the BPVT had hired the pension fund to manage its assets properly.

Czaikowsky claimed the SPT proposal would have made it possible to sell the pension fund without the approval of the BPVT and the dentists consultants who have accrued a pension with the scheme.

The chairman underlined that the participants of the SPT need not worry about their pension claims, as the assets will "keep on being managed as usual".

Last November, SPT announced a benefits cut of more than 10% to recover from a funding shortfall after its coverage ratio dropped to 88% at the end of September.

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