Dutch civil service pension fund ABP has appointed Corien Wortmann-Kool as its new chairwoman from January 2015. Wortmaan-Kool, a former MEP for the Christian Democratic party, replaces Henk Brouwer who left unexpectedly in May for ‘personal reasons’.

The fund, one of the biggest in the world, said in a statement that Wortmaan-Kool has ‘extremely wide knowledge of the financial sector, is an experienced and strong manager and has a large network in Brussels and The Hague,’ deputy chairman José Meijer is quoted as saying by the Financieele Dagblad.

Wortmaan-Kool, 55,  is currently on the supervisory board at insurance company Aegon and will remain in that function when she take sup the ABP role. Meijer told the FD the board had considered this dual position carefully but did not see a conflict of interest.