The Netherlands’ biggest pension funds invest in the arms trade – including companies producing cluster bombs and landmines – current affairs TV programme Zembla reported on Sunday evening.

Pension funds, including ABP and PGGM, invested €229m in US cluster bomb makers and €59m in companies which make landmines last year.
‘Cluster bombs are abhorrent but we don’t have any guidelines which ban us from investing in them,’ ABP’s head of investments Roderick Munsters told the show. ‘Our strategy is to make an attractive return on our investment and the weapons industry sector sometimes shows just that.’
The ABP represents the pension interests of some 2.5 million (former) civil servants. Zembla says ABP invests in seven companies which are involved in cluster bomb production.
Hans Alders, director of health service pension fund PGGM, said he did not rule out the fund deciding to no longer invest in controversial companies.