News item | 24-11-2023 | 13:47
As of January 1, 2024, Professor Fieke van der Lecq will start as government commissioner for pension transition. She holds the chair in Pension Markets at the School of Business and Economics of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and has versatile experience in the pension field, supervisory positions and administrative advice.
The government commissioner operates in a complex administrative field. Her assignment specifically concerns the course of the transition over time: is there enough time to go through the transition carefully? What challenges does implementation practice face? What can be done to speed up the transition?
Minister Schouten: I am pleased that Fieke van der Lecq wants to use her versatile experience in the pension field for this new position. I have confidence that she values the signals about implementation practice, forms an independent judgment and connects parties. I am convinced that, together with all parties, she will contribute to the successful realization of this pension transition.
During the pension transition, the government commissioner provides independent advice to the Minister for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions on the progress of the transition. It identifies any bottlenecks and makes recommendations to remove these bottlenecks.
Fieke van der Lecq: From my experience with various types of system parties, I am aware that they will go through the transition in different ways.
The system parties, (the representatives of) employers and employees, pension funds, insurers and premium pension institutions, are primarily responsible for completing the transition in a timely and careful manner; AFM and DNB are responsible for the supervision of the pension providers. The government commissioner’s advice therefore does not concern the content of the agreed transition plans, entry decisions, implementation plans and communication plans. The government commissioner does contribute to ensuring that the various parties can go through the transition smoothly.
Fieke van der Lecq: The chain parties in the pension sector, from system parties to pension administration organizations, may encounter bottlenecks, and I can facilitate that these are resolved market-wide by the sector.
She also encourages good examples to be exchanged between parties so that they can be shared more widely in the sector, for example via Werkenaanonspensioen.nl. Where necessary, she promotes good dialogue between the different organizations. The minister weighs these advices so that she can make timely adjustments if necessary.