Accountants and actuaries have in a number of cases offered insufficient counterweight to pension fund managers by giving their support to risky valuations and investments, Dutch central bank director Joanne Kellermann told the Financieele Dagblad on Monday.

Kellermann, who has responsibility for pension funds, told the paper pension fund managers should be less dependent on their advisers. She also wants the expertise of the managers to be improved. ‘We have been hammering away at this for years, but improvement is too slow,’ she said.
She blames part of the current problems with pension funds on the role of external accountants and actuaries. ‘They sometimes agreed with incorrect valuations of non-liquid investments and the holding of high concentrations of certain securities,’ she told the paper. ‘We are taking them to task for this,’
Last week it was announced that fourteen pension funds do not have enough coverage for their pension payments and cuts will have to be made. It is not yet known which funds are involved as the central bank has a duty of confidence.
According to Kellermann, a large number of pension funds took unacceptable risks, with managers not recognising those risks. They came up with products they did not always understand. ‘In this they are not alone,’ she told the paper, referring the banks.