APG director Wim Koeleman warns in an interview in FD that the increase in pensions is at risk if the political party NSC has its way and people can choose for themselves whether they participate in the new pension system.
If that referendum does indeed happen, it could lead to years of delay, which in practice will mean that many funds will not be able to increase pensions in the coming years, says Wim, director at APG. “In the current system you can index less quickly, because as a pension fund you are now obliged to maintain higher buffers.” According to him, pensions have not been indexed for years and in some cases have even been cut. “It is one of the reasons why we switched to a new system. This will allow pensions to increase more quickly.”
Collective right
If it were up to NSC, a collective right of consent would be included in the law, whereby (former) participants and pensioners jointly determine whether they wish to include their pension entitlements and rights in the new premium schemes. Unwise, says Wim. He says in the FD that there is a risk that some people will choose not to transfer their accrued rights to the new system. “Then you will have to keep two pension systems running and you will be stuck with that old system for decades. That will cost a lot of money and is difficult to explain.”
Read the entire interview here.