Dutch pension fund PGB returned 11.7 per cent on its investments in 2023, its annual report has revealed.

The positive investment performance resulted in PGB’s pension assets rising to €32bn by the end of the year.

At the end of 2023, the pension fund’s coverage funding ratio was 112.5 per cent, while its policy funding ratio, which is the average coverage funding ratio over the previous 12 months, was 116.5 per cent.

The pension fund’s improved financial position allowed it to increase pensions for a second time in January 2024.

Over the past two years, the total pension increase from PGB amounted to 15.2 per cent, while the pension premium remained the same.

In 2023, the pension fund ‘reformulated’ its investment strategy and risk appetite for sustainable investing, and it stated that it makes an “extensive assessment” between return, risk, costs and sustainability in all its investments.

Its survey of participants found that 70 per cent considered sustainable investing to be important, while 5 per cent felt returns were more important and 25 per cent were neutral.

During the year, PGB took “important steps” towards the new pension system, and the pension fund expects to transfer to the new pension system on 1 January 2027.

It held several consultations with its social partners and employers in 2023, and developed a new digital platform for them to ensure they were involved in the process.

“All developments of the past year show that as a pension fund we must remain agile in order to be able to respond quickly to changing circumstances,” commented PGB board chair, Jochem Dijckmeester.

“We pay a lot of attention to that. As well as to the transition to the new pension system; a big change for us, but also for our participants, employers and social partners. We offer them as much stability as possible during that process.

“To reinforce this, we formulated a promise in 2023: for all of us. This refers to ‘getting it right for all of us’. But also to our long social tradition: that of ‘taking care of each other’. Because despite all the growth and changes, this has remained unchanged: we retire together. For all of us.”

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