At the end of September 2020 the policy funding ratio was 96.8%. This is too low for us to be able to increase pensions. The HPF has to base its decision on the policy funding ratio: the average funding ratio over the previous 12 months. The policy funding ratio determines whether we can raise the pensions (indexation) or must reduce them (cutback). Given this policy funding ratio there was no other alternative for the Management than to decide not to increase pensions on 1 January 2021.
However, the financial position of our pension fund is still adequate not to have to cut back our pensions. Read more on this subject in our blog.
The Accountability Council (AC) at the Heineken Pension Fund consists of representatives of employees, employers and pensioners. Currently there is a vacancy in the AC for a member on behalf of the employees. The vacancy arose because the AC member is nominated as a member of the board of the Heineken Pension Fund. The documentation is in Dutch. Therefore it is important that Dutch can be read/understood.
The import tariffs announced by the United States caused declines on the stock markets. Many reports about this appeared in the news last week. We can imagine this raises questions.
In 2024, we will have achieved a 12.6% return by investing the pension assets. With this result, we are in the top three of the more than 170 pension funds in the Netherlands that were surveyed by consultants from OverRendement and Bell.