News

After a turbulent 2020, the Fund's financial position continued to improve in the year under review. We were able to close the year 2021 in good financial health. The policy funding ratio increased from 109.8% at the end of 2020 to 125.8% at the end of 2021. The current funding ratio at the end of 2021 was even higher at 132.3%. This enabled us to bring good news to our participants earlier this year about the indexation of pensions.

Last week, questions were asked in the House of Representatives about investments by pension funds in complex investment products and the performance fees that are paid in connection with this. Philips Pensioenfonds does not or hardly invests in the relatively expensive investment categories that are part of that conversation. For example, it does not invest in hedge funds and in the past it was decided to no longer invest in private equity. That investment category is therefore being phased out and about € 2 million remains, which amounts to approximately 0.01% of the invested capital.

Philips Pensioenfonds ended 2021 in a strong financial position. This is good news for all our members: we will grant full indexation on our pensions at 1 April 2022.

Investing pension money is necessary to be able to offer you a good pension. That is why the assets of Philips Pensioenfonds are invested. We can imagine you are wondering whether the current events in Ukraine are affecting the Fund's investments. The answer to this question is affirmative. In this news item we will give you more information about this.

Philips Pensioenfonds believes that the pensions that it offers should retain their purchasing power in the long term, so that they still buy as much in the future as they do now. That is our ambition. To realise that ambition, we need to adjust your pension to reflect wage increases (for active members) and increases in prices (for pension beneficiaries and non-contributory policyholders). From 2011 to 2021, however, Philips Pensioenfonds did not fully index its pensions. If you were a member of our pension fund during that time, this means that you missed out on indexation. In 2022, we can make up the difference a little, by granting compensatory indexation. To do this, we must comply with a number of legal rules that apply.

In the middle of this holiday period, I like to briefly look ahead to the second half of this year. The Future Pensions Act and the socially responsible investment of your pension money will again be high on the agenda in the second half of the year. We will also evaluate our indexation policy.

Philips Pensioenfonds publishes the so-called premium funding ratio of the Fund in its annual report. At the end of 2019, this funding ratio was 97%. This percentage is calculated according to the method prescribed by De Nederlandsche Bank. This percentage does not take into account a decision made by the Board of Philips Pensioenfonds to hedge the 'interest rate risk' relating to the premium and pension accrual. When the interest rate hedging is taken into account, the premium funding ratio at the end of 2019 is 101%. In this news article you can read why Philips Pensioenfonds has hedged the interest rate risk and what effect this has on the premium funding ratio.

The quarterly report for the third quarter of 2020 has been published. You can download the report via our website. In the third quarter, the current funding ratio rose from 108.1% at the end of June to 109.3% at the end of September. With this, the funding ratio recovered for the second quarter in a row after the funding ratio fell sharply in the first quarter as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The main contribution to the further increase in the funding ratio was made by the equity markets. As the global economy recovered after the coronavirus downturn, stock markets showed positive returns in the third quarter.

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.