DNB issues instruction to Stichting Pensioenfonds PostNL for transferring assets to employer in violation of statutory conditions

Summary of the instruction

• Stichting Pensioenfonds PostNL concluded an agreement in late 2022 under which it agreed to reduce a claim on the employer by around €20 million.
• Such a reduction represents a transfer of around €20 million of the pension fund’s pension assets to the employer, which means that it is no longer available to benefit member’s pensions.
• The Pensions Act sets strict conditions for transferring pension fund assets for the benefit of the employer instead of using them for members’ pensions.
• As the pension fund failed to meet the statutory conditions for this transfer, DNB instructed it to undo the transfer.

Strict conditions in the Pensions Act protect members’ interests

Under the Pensions Act, a pension fund may use pension assets for the benefit of the employer rather than for members' pensions only subject to strict conditions. Therefore, it may grant a discount on the employer’s pension contribution or return assets to the employer only if these conditions are met. Among other things, the pension fund must have granted full indexation in the preceding ten years – or awarded catch-up indexation in subsequent years – and it must be able to grant its members full indexation going forward. Stichting Pensioenfonds PostNL failed to meet these conditions, which is why the asset transfer should not have taken place at end-2022.

The agreement on the reduction of the claim was part of a broader set of agreements between Stichting Pensioenfonds PostNL, PostNL N.V. and the trade unions regarding the new pension scheme as of 1 January 2023, the options for granting indexation and the pension scheme’s outlines under the Future of Pensions Act (Wet toekomst pensioenen – Wtp). However, all agreements that pension funds make with their employers must be within the boundaries of the law.

Refusal to make voluntary adjustment necessitated DNB’s instruction

It had become clear from repeated oral and written communication between DNB and the pension fund that the latter was unwilling to undo the asset transfer to the employer. DNB considers it important to take enforcement action when necessary to protect the interests of pension fund members. By issuing the 21 December 2023 instruction, DNB therefore required Stichting Pensioenfonds PostNL to ensure that the asset transfer was undone by 30 June 2024 at the latest.

Pension fund has complied with the instruction

Stichting Pensioenfonds PostNL complied with the instruction within the prescribed period. This means that the amount of around €20 million has again become part of the pension fund's assets.

Read the full instruction below (in Dutch), excluding confidential information. For further information, please contact DNB’s Information Desk at telephone number 0800 - 020 1068 (free of charge) or +31 20 524 9111 (if calling from abroad).