‘Dutch pension funds can invest with more risk in the coming years, including in the defense industry’

The Dutch pension sector will have more room in the coming years due to the new pension system to invest in risky investments, including through investments in the European defense industry. Ronald Wuijster, the CEO of pension investor APG, said this on Sunday morning Financial Times.

ABP, the civil servant’s pension fund behind APG, is the largest pension fund in the Netherlands with an invested capital of 544 billion euros. Wuijster expects that the entire sector, with a value of 2 trillion euros one of the largest pension sectors in the world, will invest some five percentage points in private equity and lending over the next five years.

The ‘major part’ of the expected 100 billion euros extra in investments will be invested in Europe, thinks Wuijster. According to the CEO, statements for this are ‘more attractive ratings’ and a desire to have ‘impact on the real world’.

The riskier investments are the result of it new Pension system that will be introduced in phases in the coming years, says Wuijster. Pensionados received a guaranteed amount under this old system, which ensured that funds took less risk in their investments. These guarantees will expire under the new system, so that funds can take more risk.

More money to Defense

According to the Dutch CEO, APG is investing 2 billion euros in companies that contribute to the defense industry. However, Wuijster emphasizes that the British business newspaper will do that Dutch funds will « even more » to finance the European defense industry.

With that, Wuijster seems to want to make its contributions to the frequently heard desire to increase defense efforts in Europe. For example, the European Commission wants to free up money for Member States 800 billion Euro more to invest in European defense products, now that American security guarantees have become uncertain under Trump.

In 2024, former president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi already called on the continent to invest hundreds of billions extra, including in Defense, to keep up with the competition with the United States and China.

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