News

Achmea appoints Arthur van der Wal as chair of the Pensions division

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0200

Arthur van der Wal has been appointed chair of Achmea’s Pensions division with effect from 1 October 2022. For the past four years he has been divisional chair of Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance.

Arthur van der Wal will be taking the helm at Achmea’s new Pensions division. This division will combine the current Achmea Pension Services and Achmea Pension & Life divisions. It will co-operate closely with among others Centraal Beheer APF and Centraal Beheer PPI . This combination will provide greater focus and efficiency to Achmea’s strategic ambitions in the area of pensions and we will be able to respond even better to customer needs.

Arthur van der Wal joined Achmea in 2018, having previously been CEO of insurance company Movir (part of Nationale-Nederlanden - NN), Institutional Clients Director at ING Investment Management (now NNIP), CEO of pension administrator AZL and director of NN’s pensions business.

Bianca Tetteroo, chair of the Executive Board: “With his extensive management experience and expertise in pensions & life, pension administration and asset management, Arthur brings together all the relevant competencies to chair our new Pensions cluster. On behalf of the Executive Board, I would like to thank Arthur for his major contribution and commitment to Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance and wish him every success in his new position.”

Centric takes over the pension administration of five sector-wide pension funds from Syntrus Achmea

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 09:08:48 +0200

Five sector-wide pension funds will make use of the collective transitional scheme of Achmea and Centric, with effect from 1 September 2017. Centric will be providing the pension administration, financial administration, management support, legal advice and pension communication for the five funds, which have a total of 190,000 members. This work package differs per fund. Approximately 85 Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer employees will move to Centric.

Background of the acquisition
The acquisition is consistent with Centric’s growth strategy. In addition to providing the administration for insurers, banks, asset managers and defined pension institutions, the company also wants to serve the pension funds directly. As an IT and administrative service provider, Centric has extensive knowledge of implementing complicated administrative processes, particularly for the financial sector.

At the end of 2016, Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer announced that it would be concentrating fully on the pension management for company and occupational pension funds and Centraal Beheer APF and would therefore be phasing out its services to mandatory sector-wide pension funds within two years. Since then, the company has developed the scenario of a collective acquisition by Centric and confirmed this in mid-April by signing a Letter of Intent. Three months later, the agreement has now been officially concluded.

Centric wishes to take over the pension administration of six sector-wide pension funds from Syntrus Achmea

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 07:30:00 +0200

Centric wishes to take over the pension administration of six sector-wide pension funds from Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer. Yesterday, the companies signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to this effect. This is a collective transitional scheme that is scheduled to take effect no later than 31 December 2017. Some of Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer's employees will transfer to Centric.

The collective scheme is intended for the following six sector-wide funds: concrete products (BPF Betonproducten-industrie), the wood trade (BPF Houthandel), the travel sector (BPF Reiswerk), dental technicians (BPF Tandtechniek), the furniture industry (BPF Meubelindustrie) and the wood-processing industry and yacht building (BPF Houtverwerkende Industrie en Jachtbouw). These funds have over 200,000 members. Centric wants to perform the pension administration, financial administration, management support, legal advice and pension communications for these Syntrus Achmea customers. The funds will shortly decide whether they wish to use Centric's services.

Acquisition is consistent with Centric's growth strategy
The acquisition is consistent with Centric's growth strategy. In addition to providing the administration for insurers, banks, asset managers and defined contribution pension institutions, the company also wants to serve the pension funds directly. Centric firmly believes that in the future, IT will play an important role in the quality of pension administration. As an IT and administrative service provider, Centric has extensive knowledge of implementing complicated administrative processes, particularly for the financial sector.

At the end of 2016, Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer announced that it would be concentrating fully on pension management for company and occupational pension funds and Centraal Beheer APF and would therefore be phasing out its services to sector-wide pension funds within two years. The company subsequently entered into talks with the sector-wide pension funds concerning potential scenarios. The scenario of a collective acquisition by Centric was developed with the support of the funds.

Some Syntrus Achmea employees will transfer to Centric. This will safeguard their specific knowledge and experience for funds and members and will retain their jobs. We cannot currently say how many people will transfer as this depends partly on the number of sector-wide pension funds that opt for the collective transitional scheme.

Focus on a smooth transition
Tom van der Spek, chairman of the Overall Retirement Proposition Division at Achmea: "The scheme focuses on a smooth transition of our services to Centric and, as such, is in the interests of our customers, their members and our employees. Our customers and their members can count on a transfer to an organisation that wants to grow and invest in pension administration for sector-wide pension funds. The agreement offers perspective to our employees, some of whom will transfer to Centric, and will safeguard their jobs and their specific knowledge and experience for customers and members. I am pleased that they will be joining an employer for whom their work is a core activity."

Hans Schrijver, Chief Commercial Officer of Centric: "This move is a great step towards achieving our growth ambition in the financial services sector. This is important for our organisation and for the new customers we will be welcoming. Our meetings with the sector-wide pension funds give me great confidence for the future. We can offer the right knowledge and the right people to provide them with the best possible service. In addition, we are pleased to be able to strengthen our organisation with people from Syntrus Achmea. Together, we will make sure that we secure the continuity of services. We are convinced that employees and sector-wide pension funds alike will feel at home with us."