Self-investment discontinued

By self-investment, we mean that you could choose to compose your portfolio for your pension capital yourself until now. Since ABN AMRO is discontinuing the administration of the DC schemes, we have selected another service provider to carry out the gross DC scheme. Further explanation on self-investment in the net DC scheme is provided later in this article.

Why is self-investment no longer possible?
All regular pension administrators (such as Achmea, Appel, etc.) will execute DC in the context of the new pension law but do not offer self-investment. The need among most pension funds to offer self-investment to their participants is very limited, and it also increases the duty of care. The AFM closely monitors this. Nationally, at Robeco, there are on average more participants who self-invest, but the number is limited (less than 15%).

One option could be to place the DC scheme with, for example, a pension insurer, but that has some disadvantages. The pension scheme at Robeco is becoming fragmented. At some pension insurers, self-investment is offered, but Robeco funds are not part of the investment universe. Finally, it is also the strong desire of social partners and the board to merge the current scheme (basic scheme and gross DC scheme) into the new flexible scheme under the new pension law, allowing the current buffers in the fund to be distributed evenly among all participants.

From self-investment to a lifecycle
Participants who self-invest have received a letter from ABN AMRO stating that they can adjust their portfolio until February 1 to a lifecycle. If no choice is made, the portfolio will be converted to the neutral lifecycle at the next rebalance moment. You can always adjust it afterward. To make the right choice for your lifecycle, we recommend that you fill in the questionnaire on the ABN AMRO portal that determines your risk profile and therefore the lifecycle that suits it. If you want to make a choice yourself, it helps to know how the lifecycles are invested and in which investment funds. You can find those lifecycles here. There you can see that we invest in six Robeco funds and in an external fund.

Appel is expected to take over the administration of the gross DC scheme from ABN AMRO by mid-year. It is intended that the lifecycles will transfer unchanged during the transition to Appel. All participants must then invest in a lifecycle at that time.

The net DC scheme
For the net DC scheme, participants are likely to continue managing their investments independently. The net scheme will be transferred to an external pension administrator and will no longer be part of the Robeco Pension Fund. However, it is anticipated that Robeco’s investment funds will not be included in the investment universe of the external pension administrator. Once the employer’s choice for the administrator of the net scheme is known, participants will be informed accordingly.