Pension transition and pension fund funding ratios in first quarter

Pension transition

Pension funds have until 1 January 2028 to transfer accrued pension entitlements. As at the reference date of 31 March 2026, a total of 30 pension funds had converted to the new pension system. As at that date, the total assets under management of Dutch pension funds amounted to €1.624 billion. Of this total €1.082 billion is held by pension funds that have not yet converted to the new system and are still subject to the Financial Assessment Framework (Financieel toetsingskader – FTK), while €542 billion is held by pension funds that have converted to the new system and are subject to the Future of Pensions Act (Wet toekomst pensioenen – Wtp).

The funding ratio of FTK funds has fallen

In the first quarter of 2026, the funding ratio of the FTK funds fell to 124.7%. This represents a decrease of 4.4 percentage points compared with the previous quarter (see Figure 1).

One of the reasons for this decline is the negative trend in equity prices. The funding ratio reflects an FTK fund’s current financial position, expressing the ratio between investments and liabilities.

The policy funding ratio shows a 2.1 percentage point increase to 125.0% from the previous quarter, when it stood at 122.9%. The policy funding ratio is the average of the funding ratios for the past twelve months.

The funding ratio and policy funding ratio at sector level are also influenced by changes in the composition of the group of funds included in the calculation. As the funds that converted on 1 January 2026 had virtually the same funding ratio as those that did not, this effect is negligible.

Wtp funds 

Under the FTK, the funding ratio reflects the financial position of the fund as a whole, with both investment performance and changes in liabilities having an impact. Under the Wtp, pensions schemes are based on personal assets from which expected pension benefits are derived. Consequently, the financial position of a Wtp fund cannot be summarised unequivocally by a single indicator such as the funding ratio. As more experience is gained from funds that have converted to a Wtp scheme and more data becomes available, a clearer picture will emerge of which indicators are the most informative and representative. 

More information

The calculation of the sector's funding ratio and policy funding ratio covers only those pension funds that have not yet converted to the new pension system.

We used the following statistics to compile this news item:

• Financial position of pension funds (Month)
• Financial position of pension funds (Quarter)