Home ListingMarch 10, 2014

Unilever Pension Chair Quits

<em>One of the first European pooled pensions is to lose a key architect of the fund.</em>

Reported by Featured Author

(March 10, 2014) — The leadership team at one of Europe’s largest corporate pensions has been reduced to two, as its chairman is set to depart for fresh challenges.

Loek Sibbing is to step down from Univest this summer after helping establish one of Europe’s first pooled pension funds and serving nine years at the helm, a source close to the matter confirmed to aiCIO.

Sibbing will not be replaced, but the overall control of the €20 billion held in around 80 funds around the world will fall to CIO Mark Walker and COO/CRO Frans Meerveld, Investments & Pensions Nederland.com reported.

Walker, one of aiCIO’s Power 100, joined the fund in 2010 after being its investment consultant at Mercer since 2005. He is responsible for pension assets in 45 countries and runs Univest as an “internal outsourced CIO function”.

After falling out of fashion for several years, due to the financial crisis and tough regulations, pooling of pension funds may be about to clear a legislative barrier.

This month, investment consultant Towers Watson said regulations demanding defined benefit pension plans to be “fully funded at all times” if they operate in more than one EU Member State could soon be abandoned.

The result of removing this onerous requirement would be to make it far easier for employers to engage in cross-border pension provision, something the European Commission and regulator EIOPA has been calling for.