News

The quarterly report for the third quarter of 2019 has been published. You can download the report via our website. In the third quarter, the current coverage ratio fell from 113.0% at the end of June 2019 to 110.9% at the end of September 2019. The fall in the current coverage ratio was due to the fall in interest rates. The trade war between the China and the US held financial markets in their grip during the third quarter of this year. In addition, central banks indicated that monetary policy was relaxed. All this led to a sharp fall in interest rates. The portfolio with fixed-income securities benefited from the low interest rate and showed a positive return in the past quarter. But the positive effect of this on the funding ratio was more than offset by an increase in pension liabilities. The fall in interest rates was therefore on balance negative for the development of the funding ratio. Aided by the prospect of a more flexible monetary policy, equity markets showed a modest return in the third quarter. However, this was not high enough to prevent the funding ratio from falling by 2.1 percentage points in the third quarter.

Since 1 October, mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl shows you what your pension will look like in three scenarios: the expected pension and your pension if the economy goes better or worse in the future. The scenarios are shown in a net amount per month, including AOW. The inflation (price increase) has also taken into account. So you see an estimate of what your pension will soon be worth. If prices rise and we cannot increase your pension through indexation, then you can buy less when you retire. Mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl is a website where you can see your total pension income. So not only the part that you have built up at Philips Pensioenfonds, but also your pension with any other employers and your AOW.

On behalf of the pensioners, Philips Pensioenfonds has transferred an amount of € 108,109.23 to KWF Kankerbestrijding this month.

Philips Pensioenfonds is interested in your opinion about our services. What good things do we do, what could be better? To gain insight into this, we have asked a large number of members to participate in a survey. This research is conducted by the independent market research agency Kantar TNS. We want to improve our communication and services with the help of the results of this research.

The quarterly report for the second quarter of 2019 has been published. You can download the report via our website. In the second quarter, the current funding ratio fell from 115.6% at the end of March 2019 to 113.0% at the end of June 2019. The fall in the funding ratio was due to a fall in interest rates in the second quarter. Although this fall in interest rates yielded good returns on the fixed-income portfolio. But the positive effect of this on the funding ratio was drowned out by a larger increase in pension liabilities. On balance, the fall in interest rates therefore had a negative effect on the coverage ratio. The portfolio of real estate values also showed a positive return for the entire quarter, but this was not enough to compensate for the negative impact of the lower interest rate on the funding ratio.

Last month the policy funding ratio of Philips Pensioenfonds fell from 117.8% at the end of May to 117.3% at the end of June. The policy funding ratio has been below the required funding ratio (118.74%) since the end of March. The required funding ratio represents the minimum amount that Philips Pensioenfonds is required by law to have in reserve. As the policy funding ratio falls short of the required funding ratio, Philips Pensioenfonds has had a deficit since the end of March, and it submitted a recovery plan to the supervisory authority, which is the Dutch central bank. At a later moment, we will also publish that plan on our website. We expect that the funding ratio will recover based on our existing policies, and that no additional measures will be required.

Elections were held in the spring of 2019 for four new members for the Accountability Body. As a pension recipient, you were able to cast your vote for the representation of pension recipients in the Accountability Body. The elections were attended by the Federation of Philips Associations of Retired Persons (FPVG) and FNV Bondgenoten. The election results were determined on the basis of the casted votes: FPVG may enter 3 seats in the Accountability Council and FNV 1 seat.

This month you will receive your Uniform Pension Overview 2019 from Philips Pensioenfonds. That overview shows how much pension you have accrued, and what you can expect when you retire.

In the past month, the current funding ratio has fallen from 116.8% (end of April) to 113.2% (end of May). This is mainly due to the fall in interest rates. This increased the value of the portfolio with fixed-income securities. However, due to falling interest rates, the pension liabilities rose even more strongly and had a negative effect on the current funding ratio. The decrease in the value of the investments in shares also contributed to the decrease in the current funding ratio.

Read how developments during 2018 impacted us. The actual funding ratio remained stable at around 121% throughout most of 2018. This lasted until the end of Q3. As widespread concerns about the economy sent share prices plummeting, and with interest rates also falling slightly, by the end of the reporting year the actual funding ratio had fallen to 114.5%. The pension fund ended 2018 with a policy funding ratio of 119.8%. The annual report explains how the various developments impacted Philips Pensioenfonds during 2018. It also provides a brief discussion of what to expect in 2019. Find out more in the 2018 annual report. In chapter 8 you find an English Summary of the report.