(February 9, 2012) — Dutch pension provider PGGM has appointed a new chief risk officer to oversee its investment portfolio of €115 billion.
Arjen Pasma will join the firm at the end of March, from auditor and consultant Deloitte, and replace Jac Kragt who will remain an external advisor to the fund’s investment committee and the Asset Allocation Committee of the business.
PGGM is the second largest pension provider in the Netherlands and was split out of the Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW) in 2009. It looks after the pension benefits of over two and a half million Dutch people.
At the end of December PFZW, the largest of PGGM’s clients, had assets of €110 billion and a coverage ratio of 97%.
Despite earning relatively impressive investment returns, Dutch pension funds are grappling with low discount rates set by the country’s central bank. An assumed, risk-free rate of 2.4% has meant many funds that had previously met the 105% coverage ratio, now fail to do so, due to an increase in liabilities.
In his new role at PGGM, Pasma will be responsible for risk management of assets that PGGM runs for its institutional clients and will report to Chief of Investment Management, Eloy Lindeijer.
At Deloitte, Pasma was Director of Financial Risk Management. He also led the Pension Investment Management and Practice of Deloitte in the Netherlands and joined the investment committee of the Deloitte pension fund.
Previously, he held various management positions at ABN AMRO Asset Management.
Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell announced it was closing its defined benefit pension fund for workers contracted out of the Netherlands. This followed the same move by its UK-registered business, first revealed by aiCIO in January.
For an in-depth examination of the Dutch pensions industry, watch out for aiCIO’s March issue.