News

With the introduction of a new pension system within a few years, pensions in the Netherlands are set for an overhaul. For our members, this involves drawing their pension from an individual pension reserve – possibly as early as 1 January 2024. In the face of this new reality, the Board of Trustees of Philips Pensioenfonds has considered how this change will affect the pension fund’s policies. Normally speaking, the pension fund’s policies are geared toward the long term. However, the changes to the system in the short term forces us to deviate from our long-term policy on several points, to make sure that our members can start strongly under the new pension system. Read on to find out more about the decisions that the Board of Trustees has made for the years ahead.

Philips Pensioenfonds recently had to deal with a data breach. Unauthorized persons briefly had access to the mailbox of an employee of our pension provider Blue Sky Group. The employee in question works in a department that does not have personal e-mail contact with participants. Nevertheless, there is some leaked participant data. This data is personal and not intended for the outside world. Participants must be able to trust that their (personal) data is in good hands with us. We are very sorry that this leak has occurred. External specialists are investigating the extent of the data breach. In this report we explain the steps Philips Pensioenfonds has taken in response to the data breach.

To help Philips Pensioenfonds understand what risks our members consider acceptable for our investment policy, we will shortly be inviting many of our members to take part in a risk appetite survey. By taking part, you too can influence future decisions that we make about the investment policy.

The 2021 pension overviews are available to everyone who receives a pension. The pension overview contains information about the amount of the pension as of 1 April 2021.

In March 2020, there was great uncertainty in the financial markets due to the corona crisis. That also affected our buffers. The actual funding ratio of Philips Pensioenfonds was around 100% at that time. This means that there was exactly enough capital to be able to pay all accrued pensions, now and in the future. So there were no more buffers. During the year, the situation on the financial markets gradually improved. We have, of course, closely followed market developments. We have adjusted our investment portfolio where necessary. The actual funding ratio subsequently recovered well, returning to pre-crisis levels at the end of 2020.

All participants who accrue pension with Philips Pensioenfonds or who receive a pension from us will receive the latest edition of our Generaties magazine. In this edition, two board members look back on the year 2020 and you can read more about our policy for socially responsible investment.

Philips Pensioenfonds is interested in your opinion about our services. What are we doing well, what can be improved? To gain insights, we asked a large number of our members to participate in a survey. This research is carried out by independent research agency MWM2. We want to use the results of this research to improve our communication and services. Did you receive an email invitation to participate in the survey? Then we would appreciate it if you would like to complete the survey by 9 May at the latest.

The corona crisis initially hit the financial markets hard in 2020. As the year went on Philips Pensioenfonds saw its buffers recover – though unfortunately not enough for us to increase our pensions by indexation. Because of the current interest rates and the latest developments on the financial markets, however, we expect that we will be able to grant you (partial) indexation on your pensions during the years ahead. Nevertheless, as the corona crisis continues it remains uncertain whether that will in fact be possible.

If you are an employee, and would like to become more involved in Philips Pensioenfonds, then perhaps you would like to join the Accountability Body!