Dutch Scheme Owase To Join ASRs Consolidation Vehicle

The €900m Dutch pension fund Owase is to join Het Nederlandse Pensioenfonds, the consolidation vehicle (APF) of insurer ASR.

The scheme, which services 26 former subsidiaries of tubing manufacturer Wavin, previously indicated that it wanted to join an APF as its costs were relatively high and its board was facing increasing complexity.

Last year, the defined contribution scheme spent €573 per person on administration across its 1,300 participants.

As a consequence of Owase joining, the assets of Het Nederlandse Pensioenfonds are to increase to €2.4bn, making it the second largest APF in the Netherlands after Aegon’s Stap.

Henk Meijerink, Owase’s chairman, said that the independence of the ASR vehicle appealed to his pension fund, as ASR’s APF is the only one to employ a fiduciary manager without a link to the APF’s founder.

He said that Owase’s pension provider – Dion Pensioen Services, which is also an affiliated employer – would continue its role providing services to workers and employers.

Like most of the employers affiliated with Owase, the provider is based in Hardenberg in the east of the Netherlands.

José Suarez Menendez, chairman of the consolidation vehicle, said that the negotiations had been relatively easy. He highlighted the importance of a local service desk such as Dion “as workers prefer a personal contact point nearby”.

Menendez added that Owase also liked the governance model of Het Nederlandse Pensioenfonds, which offered the scheme’s stakeholders some input on important elements of the pension plan, including investment policy and contribution levels.

Owase is to join Het Nederlandse Pensioenfonds in an individual compartment under a five-year contract.

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