Dutch pension funds sold off €30bn worth of US shares and bonds in 2025, whilst increasing their allocation to European investments, according to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

The €30bn comprised €18bn in government and corporate bonds and €12bn in shares.

Although €5bn worth of European equities were also sold, this was offset by the purchase of €27bn worth of European debt securities. In net terms, approximately €23bn was invested in these types of European securities.

German and Spanish government bonds proved in demand, with purchases totalling €20bn. However, French government bonds were sold off.

Pension funds also bought €7bn worth of European corporate bonds, with French and Dutch companies and financial institutions proving popular.

Despite the sell-off of US assets, Dutch pension funds still invest more in US shares than in European ones, which can be explained by the US stock market being larger than the European one.

When it comes to bonds, however, Dutch pension fund exposure is mainly to European government bonds. As a result, sales of US bonds were relatively higher than US shares.

Although pension funds did invest in European debt securities last year, they sold €36bn worth of global equities.

DNB said the sale was partly due to a rebalancing of the investment portfolios.

“Pension funds aim to keep the ratio between their investments in shares and bonds within certain ranges, thereby managing the returns and risks of the overall portfolio,” DNB explained.

“Due to share price gains on the stock markets on the one hand and, conversely, falls in bond prices on the other, pension funds were investing ‘too much’ in shares relative to bonds.”

In addition to US shares and European shares, pension funds also sold €19bn worth of shares from other countries, such as Japan, Taiwan and the Cayman Islands (€3bn each). The latter mainly concerns Chinese companies operating in the US.

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