The new 'pension system' has major consequences for the pension that is arranged through the employer. The pension participant receives far fewer guarantees, but much more information and can turn buttons at any time. What does this mean for customer contact?

The second pillar of our pension system (the pension that you accrue through your employer) will be overhauled as of January 1, 2028. The core of all changes: the certainties and guarantees about the amount of the pension disappear; pension becomes a distinctive employment condition; people are becoming structurally more responsible for their own pension; and pension providers must provide pension participants with more information about investments, returns and implications for pensions. This has far-reaching consequences – primarily for the participant or customer of a pension institution and therefore also for the pension providers themselves. Regulators DNB and AFM and various experts expect increasing pressure among implementers, actuaries, lawyers and advisors at large and small employers.

As professor of pension markets Fieke van der Lecq emphasizes in an interview with NRC, it is not really a system revision. Only the pension through work is being adapted. The AOW will continue to exist and everyone can always save individually for their pension through, for example, a bank or insurer. Van der Lecq emphasizes that people will have to look at their pension more often and more carefully in the future, because the certainties will disappear. “Financial planning is a subject for which you have to take responsibility yourself. It's about your own financial future.”

Information needs go from 'once a year' to 'often'

Every pension scheme in the Netherlands must be adjusted. The transition to the new rules will undoubtedly raise a number of questions among participants. The jargon is complicated (average system? entry? flat scale?) and the amount of the pension contribution that the employer pays becomes a condition of employment. Even after implementation, the information needs of participants will take on a different, more structural character. Because participants will see changes more often in their overviews and can adjust the buttons themselves based on this. But pensions are complicated, so pension funds, administrators and premium pension institutions (PPIs) must prepare for more customer contact.

Low costs, high service quality

Pension funds strive for the lowest possible Costs per participant and the highest possible service quality for the participants, according to Floor Ekelschot and Elger van Vooren, both working at consultancy firm Valcon. Those two things are at odds with each other. And to make it complicated: while new investments in IT and front office are necessary, cost levels and service quality are increasingly a reason for funds to switch providers.

Ekelschot and Van Vooren therefore call on pension providers to actively consider the assertive customer perspective in preparing for the new reality. “Don't be tempted to think that this is solely an internal transformation issue. It is essential to recognize that you are also getting another customer. As a person he or she will remain the same, but behavior will certainly change,” say both advisors in Management Scope. (Ziptone/Erik Bouwer)

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