News

At the end of 2019, the policy funding ratio of Philips Pensioenfonds was 114.2%. With this funding ratio, we can partly increase the pensions in accordance with our indexation policy. The pensions will therefore be increased by 0.64% as of 1 April 2020. Our ambition was 2%.

The corona virus is currently gripping the world and our country. This has a direct impact on the financial markets. Investors are concerned about the economic consequences of the spread of the corona virus. And that is reflected in strongly negative returns on equity markets and a fall in interest rates. As a result, the current funding ratio in February decreased from 115.0% (end of January) to 109.8% (end of February), or 5.2 percentage points.

Are you traveling to a country where a negative travel advice (code red or orange) is applicable? Now that the coronavirus is going around the world and more and more countries are being classified as 'risk areas', we think it is important to clarify any restrictions on the payment for your partner (capital, annuity or pension) after death.

Philips Pensioenfonds and Blue Sky Group have signed a letter of intent for the outsourcing of pension administration from 2021. This is an important step in the process of reaching a final contract. It is expected that negotiations on the final contract can be completed in the short term. The contract with our current pension provider, PGGM, ends at the end of this year.

Philips Pensioenfonds exerts influence in various ways on companies in which we invest. As a shareholder in many companies, for example, we have the option of voting at shareholder meetings. And if companies in which we invest violate the Global Compact principles, we address them to this.

The quarterly report for the fourth quarter of 2019 has been published. You can download the report via our website. In the fourth quarter, the current funding ratio increased from 110.9% at the end of September 2019 to 117.0% at the end of December 2019. The increase in the funding ratio was due to the higher interest rate and stock markets showing good returns. This was mainly because investors have become more positive now that two risks to the global economy have declined in a short time. The trade war between the US and China has subsided, while in the short term the chance of a hard Brexit has decreased. Due to the rise in interest rates, the return on the fixed-income portfolio was negative. But the negative effect on the funding ratio was more than offset by a decrease in the provision for pension liabilities. On balance, the higher interest rate therefore led to a higher funding ratio. Due to the good stock returns, the value of the portfolio with return assets increased. Due to the rise in interest rates and the increase in the portfolio with return assets, the funding ratio rose by slightly more than 6 percentage points in the fourth quarter.