{"id":12061,"date":"2026-09-09T11:21:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pensioenfondsrobeco.nl\/?p=12061"},"modified":"2026-09-09T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:45:10","slug":"pieter-van-deursen-over-het-verantwoordingsorgaan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pensioenfondsrobeco.nl\/en\/actueel-en\/pieter-van-deursen-over-het-verantwoordingsorgaan\/","title":{"rendered":"Pieter van Deursen on the Accountability Body"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pieter van Deursen on the Accountability Body<\/h1><\/header> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div> \n <\/div>\n
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Pieter van Deursen has been a member of Pensioenfonds Robeco’s Accountability Body for just over a month. He is visibly enjoying his new role, which combines advising, assessing and thinking along critically. His timing is ideal. Pieter can bring his experience at Robeco together with a clear view of pensions, something that is edging closer for him personally too. “The older you get, the more important that becomes. You want to have it properly sorted.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what exactly does the Accountability Body do? After a good few seconds’ thought: “You could see it as the pension fund’s shareholders’ meeting. The social partners, in practice the employer and the works council, determine what goes into the pension scheme. The Accountability Body assesses the choices the fund makes in carrying that scheme out. The name says it all, really. In effect, the board is accountable to the Accountability Body,” Pieter concludes.<\/p>\n

Weighing up choices and how things are run<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The body has a say on a wide range of subjects. Pieter mentions the way the pension fund is organised and its work with the external parties that operate on its behalf. And of course the move to the new pension system is impossible to ignore on the agenda at the moment. What is the body’s role there? “We look at the consequences of the choices the pension fund makes. And at how the transition is being carried out. Whether those choices mean the pension money is divided fairly, within the rules, across employees, pensioners and deferred members: the former employees who still have a pension with the fund.”<\/p>\n

Speaking for pensioners, present and future<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Not at the wheel, but watching closely and forming a judgement. That is what the Accountability Body is for. Where the Supervisory Board oversees the quality of the fund’s work rather than the choices behind it, the Accountability Body does test whether the board is making the right choices and weighing up the interests of the various stakeholders fairly. It takes the seat of the people the pension fund was set up for in the first place. Or, as Pieter puts it with an eye for imagery: “The Accountability Body holds up a mirror to the board, in a constructive way. Are we on the right track? Have the interests been properly weighed up? And are the choices we’re proposing in the right balance?”<\/p>\n

Six different voices, one shared interest<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Accountability Body has six members: two representing employees, two representing pensioners and two representing the employer. Pieter represents the employees, though he feels a healthy dose of nuance is called for. “I hope, or rather I assume, that I look after everyone’s interests,” he says. “Because in the end it’s about all the stakeholders: the employer, employees, pensioners and former employees. As members we have to bring those different perspectives together to reach a sound judgement. That always happens harmoniously and from a constructive starting point. There’s no politics between the different camps within the Accountability Body.”<\/p>\n

That attitude also shapes the relationship with the board. Criticism is allowed, and in fact it has to be, but always with the aim of making decisions better together. “Let me be clear that we don’t just nod along,” he says. “It’s precisely by being constructively critical that you can improve things. And that can be done perfectly harmoniously, by not thinking in terms of us and them.”<\/p>\n

Nerves, and a sense of satisfaction<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Accountability Body is still fairly new territory for Pieter. When a seat came free, he decided to put himself forward. He was one of five candidates. After a round of interviews and an internal election, his name came out on top. “I found that election quite nerve-racking,” he admits, a little bashfully. “Standing as a candidate does mean making yourself visible within the organisation.” It means a lot to him that colleagues chose him. “When you do something because you enjoy it, because you feel like doing it and you think you have something to add, and then you’re elected, that really does feel good.”<\/p>\n

What works, and what doesn’t<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pieter brings experience to the body, along with knowledge of the organisation and a feel for how things work in practice. He has been at Robeco for some time and has seen in various projects how processes work, and sometimes how they don’t. That experience, he thinks, will come in useful when thinking through the questions the pension fund faces. An example? “Take a pension fund’s reliance on service providers when IT changes have to be made, and service providers’ IT implementation projects around investment funds. The substance is different, but the processes behind them have things in common. What works and what doesn’t in the relationship with these service providers? Which levers can you pull?” The role gives Pieter something in return, too. The pension world is specialist, and with the Future Pensions Act it is very much in motion. That is exactly what fires him up: “I find it fascinating, and I really enjoy picking up that knowledge.”<\/p>\n

Retirement creeping closer with the years<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Pieter is 53. “Retirement isn’t necessarily something I’m looking forward to right now,” he says with a laugh. But there is no denying it is gradually getting nearer: “If you’re thirty, you’ve got at least 37 years to go. At 53, it’s at least fourteen.” Retirement is coming into view, and with it the realisation that you need to have your pension in order. Does that affect what he brings to the Accountability Body? “No, it can’t, of course. I leave my personal pension wishes at home. If I had to name what I contribute, it’s much more in the way I work: listening, collaborating, setting different points of view side by side and trying to add something from experience.” He relishes working with former Robeco colleagues who have since retired: “Absolutely wonderful! Go ahead and write that down.”<\/p>\n

Perhaps that outburst sums up his view of the Accountability Body best. Bringing different experiences and interests together. Critical where necessary, constructive where possible. Improving the choices around people’s pensions wherever that can be done: “Without speaking solely on behalf of any one party.”<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New member Pieter van Deursen on the Accountability Body: “We hold up a mirror to the board, in a constructive way”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actueel-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPieter van Deursen on the Accountability Body | Pensioenfonds Robeco<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pensioenfondsrobeco.nl\/en\/actueel-en\/pieter-van-deursen-over-het-verantwoordingsorgaan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pieter van Deursen on the Accountability 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