> PENSION COUNCIL
Chairman of the pension council Martijn Mobach:
“Our pension fund is healthy”
How does the board function? What decisions does it make? And why? The pension council gives an opinion or advice on this. Pension council chairman Martijn Mobach looks back on 2020.
“We take a fresh look at the performance of our fund and the policies of our board”, says Martijn. “We are, in fact, laymen. Trained laymen of course, but that open-mindedness is our advantage. Everything is open for discussion, there are no stupid questions.” The pension council took a fresh look at performance in 2020. “We tested that performance against ten standards: did it comply? We are very positive. The board's policy is very good, the board is knowledgeable, it balances the interests of the different member groups and it keeps us well informed.” Two things Nothing but praise, then? Well, two small comments then. The first: there are too few women and too few young people on the board. “That is difficult to solve, because there are far more men working in merchant shipping and young people are hard to mobilise.” The second aspect is the ICT system of MN, the organisation that administers the pensions. “That system has to be renewed and it is not going very smoothly yet. Not an acute problem, but we are keeping a close eye on it.”
Efficient machine So Martijn and his fellow council members are very positive about the big picture. The fund is in good shape. “We have a healthy fund: our funding ratio has consistently been above 110% in recent months. Unfortunately, this is still not enough to index the pensions with the full price inflation. But the fund is and remains a proven efficient and reliable machine. Of every euro you receive in pension, now or in the future, you have paid in only about 30 euro cents yourself. The other 70 cents are returns on investments. We can achieve these results only because there are so many of us.” New system Martijn has been chairman of the pension council for a year now. With a great deal of enjoyment, he says. “I find it interesting. Last year, we tried to hold meetings more efficiently. For example, we first discussed some topics in a small team. We then discussed the result with the entire pension council: you're done in no time.” The next few years will be marked by the new pension system. That will be an exciting period, in Martijn's opinion. “The pension council has a strengthened advisory right in that process. We will therefore assess the choices critically. The aim is for the new system to be more flexible and responsive to individual needs. I am looking forward to it, but at the same time the pressure is quite high. We have to make agreements for the decades ahead.” ←
About the pension council
The Bpf Koopvaardij pension council consists of thirteen representatives of employees, former employees, pensioners and employers. The council assesses the board's policy, gives advice and contributes constructively when it comes to policy choices.