People with a pension from ABP will not receive an increase in 2016, the pension fund announced on Tuesday, ahead of the publication of its quarterly figures.

The ABP handles the pensions of civil servants and teaching staff and with funds of €344bn is one of the largest pension funds in the world.

The chance that pensions will grow at the same rate as wages is ‘very unlikely’ for the foreseeable future, CEO Corien Wortmann-Kool told the NRC in an interview.

The low interest rate is putting pressure on ABP’s coverage ratio, she said. And because the fund has not been able to raise pensions the past few years means pensions are lagging 10% behind wages.

The Dutch central bank is currently pushing for pensions to be lowered to create higher wages. Its president, Klaas Knot recently said the Dutch are saving too much and should build up smaller pensions.

Easy talk

Wortmann-Kool told the NRC she disagrees. ‘In The Hague they talk easily about building up less pension and raising taxes on the deposits. Before you know it, the billions in pensions are an easy target. And that must not happen.’

She is in favour of people being able to save more pension if they want to. ‘More flexibility would be good. Pension funds are very different and politicians should not try and push them all into the same rigid straitjacket,’ she told the paper.