5.8 million pensions will be cut this year as funds shore up assets

Tuesday 19 February 2013

This year, an unprededented 68 Dutch pension funds will be forced to make pension cuts, affecting 5.8 million pensions, the sector federation said on Tuesday.

Last year the federation expected 80 funds would have to reduce payments, but some have since managed to boost their assets back up to accepted levels.

It is the first time so many pension funds have been forced to reduce their pay-outs, the federation said.

Up to 7%

The central bank said earlier the average cut will be 1.9% but will vary between 0.5% and 7%. In total, 19 funds will reduce pensions by 7%, including construction group Ballast Nedam, supermarket chain Super de Boer, the dental technicians' fund and the hairdressers' fund.

The Netherlands has some 415 pension funds allied either to a sector or a specific company.

By the end of this year, all the country's pension funds are supposed to have brought their buffers back up to the required 105%. But 40 of the funds may miss this deadline, forcing a second round of reductions next year, the central bank said.

Earlier stories
Engineering pension funds announce savage cuts
Millions of pensions will be cut in April, says central bank

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