ING and trade unions reach agreement in principle on pension scheme for employees in The Netherlands
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
ING announced today that it has reached an agreement in principle in the
negotiations with the trade unions about a new pension scheme for employees in
The Netherlands of ING Bank, WestlandUtrecht Bank and Insurance/IM, including
Nationale-Nederlanden and ING Investment Management. With this new pension
scheme, ING aims to introduce a modern, balanced scheme which meets today's
requirements. In conjunction with the separation of the Banking and Insurance/IM
activities, two separate pension funds will be established: one for the Bank and
one for Insurance/IM.
Final agreement on the new scheme will be subject to formal approval of the
trade unions based on a consultation of their members. In this regard the unions
will recommend the scheme to their respective members in the second half of
June.
Once approved, the new pension scheme will take effect on 1 January 2014, and
will apply to the 19,000 staff members in the Netherlands of ING Bank and
WestlandUtrecht Bank as well as to the 8,000 staff members in the Netherlands of
Insurance/IM. The scheme will be part of the respective collective labour
agreements and will replace the current pension scheme in these agreements. The
pension entitlements in the current pension scheme (built up to the end of
2013) remain unchanged.
Key elements of the scheme:
* The new pension scheme will be based on ING contributing a yearly pre-
defined premium to the funds. The employee contribution to the new scheme
will gradually increase to one-third of the base pension premium.
* The threshold sum for which no pension accrual takes place and for which no
premiums are paid - the so-called state-pension offset - will be lowered to
EUR 15,000 (from over EUR 19,000 in the current scheme).
* The new pension benefit will be based on the average wage over the period of
employment (instead of the final wage under the current scheme) with a 2%
accrual rate. This rate is the percentage of the pension base (salary minus
the state-pension offset) that is built up during each year of service. The
average wage scheme is in line with pension schemes that are customary in
the Netherlands.
* The risk of underfunding in the new funds will be transferred to these
funds. In exchange, ING will pay an additional risk premium. In the current
scheme, ING is obliged to make additional payments in the case of
underfunding of the fund. This obligation will only be maintained for the
pension entitlements that will have been built up to the end of 2013.
* The responsibility for inflation correction moves to the two new pension
funds.
* The standard retirement age in the new pension scheme will be raised to 67
(from 65).
"For ING it is important to have a pension scheme which prepares us for the
future, given the upcoming split of ING Group into separate bank and
insurance/investment management operations," said Nick Jue, chairman of the
Board of ING Netherlands. "We are pleased to have been able to conclude this
scheme during constructive and open negotiations with the trade unions."
"It was important for us to come to a pension scheme that offers employees peace
of mind and security for the future in these times of uncertainty," said Ike
Wiersinga, negotiator on behalf of CNV Dienstenbond. "The lower state-pension
offset in the new scheme was a long-standing hope of CNV, which works out well
for everybody, but especially for those in the lower salary scales.
Additionally, we have agreed to commit to an age-aware personnel strategy, so
that everybody will be fit and can work with pleasure until his/her retirement."
Media enquiries
Ingeborg Klunder
+31 20 541 6526
Ingeborg.Klunder(at)ing.com
ING PROFILE
ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin, offering banking,
investments, life insurance and retirement services to meet the needs of a broad
customer base. Going forward, we will concentrate on our position as an
international retail, direct and commercial bank, while creating an optimal base
for an independent future for our insurance and investment management
operations.
IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION
Certain of the statements contained in this document are not historical facts,
including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations
and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current
views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from
those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or
events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, without
limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular economic
conditions in ING's core markets, (2) changes in performance of financial
markets, including developing markets, (3) consequences of a potential (partial)
break-up of the euro, (4) the implementation of ING's restructuring plan to
separate banking and insurance operations, (5) changes in the availability of,
and costs associated with, sources of liquidity such as interbank funding, as
well as conditions in the credit markets generally, including changes in
borrower and counterparty creditworthiness, (6) the frequency and severity of
insured loss events, (7) changes affecting mortality and morbidity levels and
trends, (8) changes affecting persistency levels, (9) changes affecting interest
rate levels, (10) changes affecting currency exchange rates, (11) changes in
investor, customer and policyholder behaviour, (12) changes in general
competitive factors, (13) changes in laws and regulations, (14) changes in the
policies of governments and/or regulatory authorities, (15) conclusions with
regard to purchase accounting assumptions and methodologies, (16) changes in
ownership that could affect the future availability to us of net operating loss,
net capital and built-in loss carry forwards, (17) changes in credit-ratings,
(18) ING's ability to achieve projected operational synergies and (19) the other
risks and uncertainties detailed in the risk factors section contained in the
most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V.
Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of ING speak only as of the
date they are made, and, ING assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for
any other reason. This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a
solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.
PDF version of the press release:
http://hugin.info/130668/R/1616587/515620.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: ING Group via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1616587]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 01.06.2012 - 08:01 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 152138
Anzahl Zeichen: 7949
contact information:
Town:
Amsterdam
Kategorie:
Business News
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"ING and trade unions reach agreement in principle on pension scheme for employees in The Netherlands"
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