Dutch government urges pension funds to boost local economy, South Korea turns to pension

Ministry of finance officials met with the largest Dutch pension funds to urge them to help bolster the Dutch economy. Ministry of finance spokeswoman Hendrianaka Bolhaar said the meeting centred on the role of institutional investors in the Dutch economy. She added the talks did not exclude any investment opportunity, so they could range from equity exposures to participation to government-sponsored infrastructure projects. The participants agreed today to meet on a frequent basis.

PGGM spokesman David Uitdenbogaard said: “We talked about various investment possibilities, but pension funds have to look at returns, risk and diversification when they take investment decisions.” APG – the largest Dutch pension fund administrator – also participated to the meeting. Spokesperson Thijs Steger said: “The ministry of finance has emphasised once more that pension funds cannot be ‘forced’ to do certain investments, as they are responsible for their own investment decisions. However, the parties involved will look at interesting propositions in promising sectors.” Gert Kloosterboer, spokesperson for the Dutch Association of Industry-wide Pension Funds, who also had a representative attend, said: "A working group will be set up to coordinate the initiatives that will be undertaken in the future. In the meantime, the different parties which attended the meeting will consider their options."

The South Korean government plans to create a SKR5trn (US$3.9bn) investment fund, partially funded by the National Pension Fund, to invest in local companies and encourage research and development activity. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the investment fund will also be shored up by the government, the Industrial Bank of Korea and other institutional investors.

IPE Netherlands,  IPE Korea