Several Dutch pension funds have reported a slight increase in their average funding levels, after an increase in interest rates helped cut liabilities.

PostNL Pension Fund's latest update confirmed that the policy funding ratio rose slightly in August 2025 to 132.4 per cent. This improvement is attributed to the current funding ratio for August 2025, which has increased since this time last year, from 135.7 per cent to 133.9 per cent in August 2024.

The group explained that interest rates, which rose by 1 per cent last month, had a positive effect on the current funding ratio, although this was offset as the value of investments decreased to August 2025, which had a negative effect of -1 per cent on the funding ratio.

SNS Reaal also reported funding improvements, as its policy funding ratio rose from 121.3 per cent to 122.1 per cent in August, after its current coverage ratio increased from 128.9 per cent to 130.2 per cent. 

The scheme explained that while the value of investments decreased slightly, this was more than offset by a decrease in liabilities, prompted by a rise in interest rates.

A similar trend was seen for Hoogovens Pension Fund, which revealed that its current funding ratio rose from 129.4 per cent to 130.6 per cent in August.

According to the scheme, the discount rate had a positive effect of 11.3 percentage points on the development of the current funding ratio in 2025, although this was partially offset by a fall in the value of the invested asset, from €10,411m to €10,304m.

In addition to this, the pension increase granted on July 1, 2025, had a negative effect of 3.8 percentage points on the current funding ratio.

The improved current funding ratio also led to improvements in the scheme's policy funding ratio, which uses the funding ratio over the past twelve months, as it rose from 124.8 per cent to 125.4 per cent.

However, this means that the policy funding ratio is still 19.6 percentage points lower than the funding ratio for future-proof indexation (TBI).

This has not been the only update from Dutch pension funds, as the board of the Retail Pension Fund also announced that it had decided to postpone the transition to the new pension scheme, scheduled for January 1, 2026.

"The postponement gives us the time to finalise all preparations in detail and have them reviewed," it stated.

"The assessment of our plans by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) also requires additional time. This is a careful process aimed at ensuring a smooth and responsible transition to the new regulations."

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