Both the Future Pensions Act and the intended transition to a new pension scheme will again undoubtedly be the Board’s most important underlying, direction-determining issues in 2024. The social partners’ concrete choices in the context of the Future Pensions Act will become clear in 2024. With respect to the Future Pensions Act, the Future Pensions Act Steering Committee will manage the overall process. The committee will comprise a delegation of the Pensioenfonds PDN Board and social partners. The Board will also continue to direct the fund itself, taking decisions in a timely manner, with the fund bodies and stakeholders remaining well connected. There will be a special focus on the affiliated companies and good connections with the Supervisory Board and Accountability Council. Implementation aspects will also remain a priority in 2024 to safeguard robust future implementation. The success of the transition to the new pension scheme partly depends on the fund’s financial situation. The current funding level enables various goals to be achieved during the transition. However, if the funding level is too low, the parties must make financial concessions. The Board is aware of this short-term risk and continuously monitors whether additional actions are needed to manage this risk.
The administration agreement between dsm-firmenich and Pensioenfonds PDN as well as the pension agreement expired at the end of 2023. This also applied to agreements with respect to the other affiliated companies. A new pension agreement was concluded at the end of 2023, with the main change being the increase in the accrual rate. The agreement term is until 1 January 2026, with the possibility of an extension. Implementation agreements with all member companies were also concluded in late 2023, with a term until 1 January 2026. 2024 will be dominated by the Future Pensions Act pension agreement, the transition plan being drawn up by social partners and the subsequent drafting of an implementation plan.
Communication will play a more important role than ever in 2024. There will be a major focus on involving members in the envisaged pension scheme change and the Future Pensions Act transition process. What will change and why? How will the changes affect me? Greater use will also be made of new media. An additional priority will be to manage member expectations of pension provision and payments in the existing pension scheme, particularly relating to indexation. The 2022-2025 Communication Strategy will be further rolled out in 2023, with a clear Pensioenfonds PDN positioning. This communication strategy will also focus on a broader target group than members, deferred members and pensioners so that it also reaches other fund stakeholders.
Another Board priority for 2024 is to design a framework for integrating ESG, climate and transition risks within the investment policy and integrated risk management, and to establish guidelines regarding the percentage of sustainable investments within the portfolio.
The world is currently facing various geopolitical uncertainties that can have financial consequences. Known issues include the war between Ukraine and Russia, the war in Gaza, tensions between Taiwan and China and the approaching elections in the US. Not only the humanitarian consequences but also the potential economic consequences raise concerns for the pension fund. Any escalation of such conflicts could negatively impact the economy in various ways. All kinds of investments could be affected if there is a major conflict, which is why the fund is increasing its focus on maintaining a sufficient spread of invested assets (diversification).