The Netherlands’ Hoogovens Pension Fund achieved a return of 2.7 per cent on its investments in 2025, 1.4 percentage points below the composite benchmark, its annual report has revealed.

The pension fund stated that the primary reason for its return being below the benchmark was the underperformance of its equity portfolio.

Its report described 2025 as a “year of two faces” from a financial perspective, with rising interest rates resulting in reduced liabilities, while investments were positive but lagged behind the benchmark.

“In recent years, our investments have had to deal with major adjustments to interest rates, prices, and inflation, in the context of ongoing unrest in the world,” the pension fund said.

“On the financial markets, these conflicts appear not to have had much influence in 2025, after a short period of unrest on the markets.”

Hoogovens Pension Fund closed the year with a current funding ratio of 137.1 per cent, a 15 percentage point improvement compared to the end of 2024.

This year, Hoogovens will be intensifying its activities in transitioning to the new pension system.

Following the submission of the transfer/collective value transfer dossier, which will be processed by DNB, the pension fund is focusing on implementing the new pension system from 1 January 2027.

“We try to maintain the purchasing power of pensions every year through the granting of supplements (indexation),” the report stated.

“With a view to the transition to the new pension system, the rules for increasing pensions under certain conditions have been relaxed.

“As a result, we were able to increase accrued pension rights and commenced benefits by 3.15 per cent as of July 1, 2025, and by 0.94 per cent as of January 1, 2026.

“In the decision regarding the granting of supplements, we determined that the effects are balanced for all participant groups.”

---