Several Dutch pension funds reported mixed results in their March 2026 funding updates, with movements largely driven by a small rise in interest rates.

Hoogovens Pension Fund reported that its current funding ratio fell from 135.9 per cent in February to 132.9 per cent in March, down from 137.1 per cent at the start of 2026.

From 2026 to date, the actuarial interest rate has had a negative impact of 3.4 percentage points on the development of Hoogovens Pension Fund's current funding ratio.

The fund’s update also reported that the value of its invested capital fell from €10,459m in February to €10,292m in March, and due to the investment return, the current funding ratio fell by 1.1 percentage points.

However, the fund’s policy coverage ratio, the average funding ratio over the past 12 months, improved, rising from 131.6 per cent in February to 132 per cent in March.

Despite this rise, the policy coverage ratio remained 12.2 percentage points below the threshold for future sustainable indexation.

SNS Reaal also reported improvements in its policy funding ratio, which rose from 129.8 per cent in February to 130.5 per cent in March.

The fund said that in March, the value of its investments fell by 3.8 per cent, but due to a 0.1 percentage point rise in the average De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) interest rate in the same month, its liabilities decreased.

Overall, both of these factors led to a decrease in the current funding ratio from 133.8 per cent to 131 per cent.

Furthering the trend, the Dutch pension fund for PostNL workers also saw its policy funding ratio increase from 135.1 per cent in February to 135.4 per cent in March.

In March 2025, the current funding ratio stood at 131.3 per cent. This figure is not used in the policy funding calculation, and instead, the March 2026 funding ratio is used. At 134.9 per cent, it is higher than last year, and as a result, the policy funding ratio increased.

Meanwhile, the fund's current funding ratio fell from 136 per cent in February to 134.9 per cent in March.

The fund noted that the current funding ratio's performance depends on the value of investments and provisions. Given that, interest rates rose last month, this had a positive effect on the current funding ratio.

However, the value of the investments fell in March 2026, which negatively impacted the funding ratio. But in this case, the rise in interest rates had a smaller effect than the fall in the investment's value, resulting in the current funding ratio falling in March 2026.

Elsewhere, Pensioenfonds UWV's policy funding ratio rose from 122.5 per cent in February to 123 per cent in March.

However, its current funding ratio experienced a slight fall, from 122.5 per cent in February to 122.3 per cent in March.

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