The numbers two and three companies in the Dutch funeral insurance sector are planning to merge, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

Monuta has more than one million policyholders and a workforce of 900. It turned over €226m in 2011. Yarden insures almost one million people against the cost of their funeral. It turned over €168m in 2011 with a workforce of 1,000.

Current market leader Dela turned over €463m in 2011 and had almost 3.25 million policyholders.

Yarden and Monuta say they do not expect the competition authority to object to the merger because Dela will remain the biggest. The two companies will, however, have a stronger position in terms of crematoria ownership.

It is traditional in the Netherlands to take out insurance to cover the cost of a funeral, either paid for in instalments or as a lump sum.