Objective, mission, vision and strategy

Stichting Pensioenfonds Wolters Kluwer Nederland (hereinafter: 'the Fund’) has established its goal, mission, vision, and strategy and has also indicated the manner in which it will implement the adopted strategy.

Objective

The Fund’s objective indicates its raison d'être and what it aims to achieve.
The objective of the Fund is to award nominal pension entitlements and pension rights to its participants ^1, to pay out pension benefits to its pension beneficiaries and – as far as the Fund's resources allow this depending on the cover ratio – to keep the pension entitlements and pension rights index-linked.

Mission

The mission statement describes what the Fund stands for and which values and identity characterise the Fund.
The Fund administers the pension agreement that Wolters Kluwer Holding Nederland B.V. (the ‘employer’) has entered into with its current and former employees. The administration must therefore be correct, balanced, transparent, risk-conscious, socially responsible, and efficient. The Fund wants to be a sustainable and reliable pension fund that clearly communicates, explains, and strives to meet its ambitions and obligations to its participants.

Vision

The vision describes what the Fund aims for and what underlies its actions.
The subject of pensions is also increasingly influenced by international forces and has received the attention of politicians, regulators, investors, employers, and participants. Changes in this force field have made the premium, accrued rights and benefits become more dependent on political and economic developments for all pension funds.

In addition, the individualisation in society and the technological developments not only have made pensions a subject of public debate, but also mean that all information regarding the participant's own pension must be clear and readily available without any third-party intervention.

To be able to respond to these developments, the Fund aims to be professional, efficient and flexible. A pension fund that is able to respond quickly to these developments in an appropriate manner, to safeguard the interests of its participants in the best possible way.

Essential elements for the trust in the Fund are its solvent and stable financial position, that it provides a contribution with a positive social impact, that it is transparent in its responsibility for and the weighing of decisions and in communicating clearly with participants, the employer and other interested parties. A balanced weighing of interests is leading in the decision-making process.

Strategy

The strategy indicates how the Fund intends to achieve its goal, mission, and vision, which resources it intends to deploy to that end and how.
The Board uses a management cycle to achieve the stated goals. In doing so, the Board acts in accordance with the laws and regulations and the Code of the Dutch Pension Funds. The efforts, critical success factors and results of the Fund are periodically evaluated and discussed within the organisation, and account is rendered of these. In doing so, the Board focuses on the interests of the participants, on the principles of good governance, and on sound and well-founded risk management, as well as on timely and correct communication with the participants, the employer and the regulators. The Board attaches importance to the permanent expertise, quality, motivation and deployability of all those involved in the Fund.

Influence of current events
The employer has indicated that it wishes to await the continuing developments relating to the new pension system before making a decision on a new pension contract. In the meantime, the Board of the Fund has opted to follow the developments and discussions. It is also proactively seeking, as far as possible, sufficient qualitative and quantitative information regarding the various choices available for the new pension contract by using scenario analyses. In the opinion of the Board, this information would also be of benefit to the social partners. Of course, the social partners will determine the choice for the new pension contract, but the Board wishes to be as well prepared as possible to be able to act as quickly and adequately as possible after the social partners have made their decision, taking into account the interests of current or former participants and pensioners.

The Fund’s Board sees no reason to anticipate a specific scenario, management model or administration form. The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the current situation, combined with an analysis of the various administration forms, has led to the strategic decision to let the company pension fund continue to exist for the time being because the alternatives do not currently appear to be in the interest of the participants.

The premium policy, the indexation and reduction policy, the cost control, the investment policy, the asset management, and the risk management jointly make up the Fund’s financial core. In view of the Fund's performance and the assessment of the various economic and political factors, the Board maintains its current strategic investment policy.

Implementation
The term ‘implementation’ indicates the actions taken and resources used to achieve, maintain, evaluate, and update the goal.
The Board delegates the preparatory decision-making process to various steering committees. These committees comprise some members of the Board, experts from the pension office and external experts. A member of the accountability body is also present as an observer. Members of the supervisory Board may also attend a committee meeting at their request. Following the advice of a committee, the Board takes its decisions after having considered the matter itself.

With regard to the new pension system, the Board has set up a broad-based project team, the object of which is to be able to discuss proactively within the Board and with the other bodies of the Fund the implications of the introduction of a new pension contract and the future viability of the Fund, and to join with the social partners in thinking about how to act efficiently and effectively in the face of the impending system changes.

The Board delegates executive duties to the director of the Fund. The director of the Fund manages the staff of the pension office. The staff of the pension office are competent to perform the core tasks, namely, management support, risk management, pension administration and communication, asset management and financial administration.

The Fund creates transparency, involvement and trust by informing the participants, the employer and other interested parties proactively and continuously through various media, on the one hand about the efforts and results of the Fund and on the other about the risks associated with future developments. Participants, the employer, and other interested parties are invited to engage in talks with the Fund to obtain answers to both personal and general questions. The Board considers direct contact with the participants important. In addition to communication via the Fund’s website, social media, letters, telephone and email, panels are also being set up to listen to the concerns of the participants.

1 Participants are defined as active (employees) and former members and pensioners.