Pensions at three big funds rise by less than 1%

Pensioenfonds Zorg & Welzijn (PFZW) will raise the pension incomes of almost 3 million participants by 0.75% from next year. The fund made a positive excess return in the first nine months of this year. bpfBOUW, the construction fund, will raise payments by 0.8%, and Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek (PMT) by 0.82%.

Retirees see the increase directly in their payments; for people still working, the extra is invested further. Excess return is the return available for pension growth: the younger the participant, the more of it they get.

The increase is small because of a new spreading rule: investment returns are spread over three years, so only a third of the available return is used now. The rest stays available for future increases. At the switch earlier this year, the funds raised pensions by about 12% (PFZW), 8% (PMT) and 21% (bpfBOUW), because they need to hold fewer reserves.

Three funds raise pensions by less than 1%

%

Three funds raise pensions by less than 1% (%). Highest: PMT, 0.82; lowest: PFZW, 0.75; 3 items. Source: The pension funds.

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Data: Three funds raise pensions by less than 1%

Item	%
PFZW	0.75
bpfBOUW	0.8
PMT	0.82

bpfBOUW, with about 750,000 working and retired participants, spreads financial results for retirees over time. It uses one third of the available room for this increase; the rest stays available for future adjustments. "The returns are good enough to raise the payments for our retirees," a spokesperson said. "We also use a three-year spreading period in case investment returns disappoint."

The three funds moved to the new pension system at the start of this year. Because they need to hold smaller buffers, they shared part of those buffers with participants and raised pensions substantially then. ABP (3.2 million participants) and PME switch at the coming turn of the year. In late October they said they expect to raise pensions after the switch by an average of 13.9% (ABP) and 12.6% (PME), if their position at year-end is as good as now.