NETHERLANDS - The financial position of the €2.3bn pension fund for public transport SPOV and the €3.3bn scheme for painters and decorators has improved so much on the previous yea's performance that both pension plans can grant their participants indexation for 2010.
SPOV has decided to award its pensioners and deferred members a 1.01% increase in pensions rights, split following the consumer index between September 2008 and September 2009, while active members will receive 0.94% indexation.
Officials said they are offering extra indexation to compensate for the loss of payments in 2009 when SPOV's financial position deteriorated, and the fund's ambition is to deliver 2% indexation in 2010
The pension fund's inflation compensation for active participants has yet to be decided as this outcome will be negotiated to fit its collective labour agreement, or CAO.
The funding ratio of SPOV has improved from 104% in March last year to 125% by the end of 2009, the scheme reported.
Elsewhere, Schilders, the industry-wide pension fund for painters and decorators, said it will pay 1% indexation to all of its 150,000 participants.
The BPF Schilders also reported it enjoyed a better than expected recovery last year, as its cover ratio rose to 112% by the end of October, rather than the 108% end-of-year prediction for its recovery plan.
That said, officials stressed that the inflation compensation awarded is only part of the full indexation possible, covering two-thirds of the salary index, as its funding ratio is still short of the required long-term target of 130%.
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