The Accountability Council (AC) has the authority to evaluate the Board’s performance, policy decisions, and policy implementation. A positive evaluation depends on whether interests were considered equally. The Council is made up of six members.

Composition

Summary evaluation

The AC’s assessment is positive. Important elements that determine that assessment are:

• The Board has been proactive in taking initiatives to prepare for the introduction of the Future Pensions Act (Wtp). Major steps were taken with respect to data quality, preparing a balancing framework, determining the risk appetite and making agreements with the administrator regarding the future IT infrastructure. 

• The Board also acted decisively in securing the pension administration until after the transition to the new pension contract: a new service level agreement (SLA) was concluded with DPS on time, which offers both contracting parties even more clarity regarding the service content and costs.   

• Governance is in good shape. Vacancies that occurred in 2023 were filled effectively. In the context of succession planning, the AC emphasised the importance of ongoing consultation with the employer.  

• The Board further developed the sustainability policy by setting concrete, measurable targets. In terms of policy, the engagement policy was refined and a decision was taken on the second focus theme of ‘Circularity’.

• The administration costs were on average comparable with other pension funds.

The AC and the issued advice 

The Board requested the AC’s advice on various decisions in 2023: 

Governance 

The AC issued positive advice regarding the profile for Supervisory Board members and regarding a one-off, extra remuneration for SPF Board members appointed on a non-parity basis.  

Complaints and disputes regulation 

The regulations with respect to handling Complaints and Disputes has changed in connection with the Future Pensions Act. In two advice rounds, the AC issued positive advice regarding changes to the regulations.  

Changes to administration agreement

The AC also issued positive advice regarding two proposals to adapt the administration agreement. The first advice concerned the continuation of the administration agreement for a period of five years or until the date of the transition to a new pension contract. The second change concerned the designation of F&S B.V. as an affiliated company. SABIC plans to sell F&S B.V. during 2024, with the understanding that current members will continue to accrue pensions with SPF.

The Accountability Council’s priorities for 2024

The AC formulated the following priorities for the coming year:

The Future Pensions Act 

The AC aims for careful monitoring of all relevant aspects of the Future Pensions Act, especially as the AC is expected to be asked to give its opinion by end 2024 on the fairness and balance of choices made. 

IT policy and developments 

2024 will be a challenging year, with both the separation of DPS from the dsm-firmenich organisation taking place, while existing systems need to be prepared for the Future Pensions Act. 

Balanced decisions 

The third AC priority concerns how balanced management decisions are made. The developed Assessment Framework is an important anchor point for the AC.  

The AC will also schedule topics according to the annual agenda, and the Executive Board will be asked to address these in the periodic consultation. The complete evaluation by the Accountability Council and the SPF Board’s response to the evaluation can be read in the SPF annual report (PDF in Dutch only).