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Your employer has made agreements concerning our pension plan with the trade unions. ING CDC Pensioenfonds will be the administrator of this pension plan. CDC is short for Collective Defined Contribution. In a CDC pension plan, annual contributions are fixed, while the resulting pension is not. As our average life expectancy is rising and financial markets are too volatile to predict, we don’t know in advance whether pension contributions and return on pension fund investments will be adequate. Your pension accrual, pension benefits and future indexations are not guaranteed. They are dependent on the financial resources held by ING CDC Pensioenfonds. The risk that your pension may ultimately be too low to meet your needs or expectations is your risk.

While the CDC pension plan is the same for all employees of ING, everyone’s personal situation is different. Solidarity is a fundamental principle of the CDC pension plan, meaning that all results, positive as well as negative, will have to be shared by all employees and former employees such as pensioners (note that this applies only for pension accrued after 1 January 2014).

The CDC pension plan works as follows:

• ING pays a fixed contribution to ING CDC Pensioenfonds every year; the contribution is based on a fixed calculation method.
• You build up pension entitlement for the salary you earn (up to € 11,483 per month in 2024. This amount is adjusted annually to correspond with the maximum amount allowable for tax purposes). This is referred to as your pensionable salary.
• Your state old-age pension accrual (AOW) is taken into account, which is why a part of your salary does not accrue pension. This part is called the threshold for pension accrual (franchise).
• The accrual ambition is 1.768% of your pension base per year, provided the contribution is sufficient. Your pension base is equal to your maximum amount of pensionable salary minus the threshold for pension accrual (franchise).
• As long as you remain employed by ING, the pension base that corresponds to your pensionable salary accrues pension every year. This is what we call an average salary system.
• The contribution is invested. Return on the investments is needed to pay your pension benefits and to fund future indexation. Indexation is important because it helps maintain the purchasing power of your pension despite inflation. Return on investment is unpredictable, which is why (full) annual indexation of your pension cannot be guaranteed and you cannot be sure your pension will keep pace with annual inflation rates.
• Contributions may be insufficient and return on investments could be disappointing. This will result in less pension accrual and less indexation, or none at all. Ultimately, your pension may be lower than expected. In the CDC pension plan, this risk has been shifted to you personally. Your pension accrual and indexation are conditional upon the level of ING CDC Pensioenfonds’s financial resources being adequate. 

This means that if the result is below expectations, the employer will not make supplemental payments. Reason enough for you to spend some time studying your pension.

ING CDC Pensioenfonds will guide you by providing information that specifically addresses your situation.

If you already built up pension through a former employer, you can transfer your pension accrual to ING CDC Pensioenfonds, subject to certain conditions. This is referred to as ‘value transfer’ and it’s up to you to decide if you want to do this. If you want to transfer partner pension, your partner will need to give his/her approval.

What to consider when you make your decision:

• The type of pension plan provided by your former employer (final salary system, average salary system, defined contributions).
• The method used by your former employer for increasing your pension (indexation of your pension).
• The financial position of your former pension fund or insurer and guarantees given by your former employer, if any.
• Options available under your former employer’s pension plan.
• Whether you want to spread your pension across multiple pension administrators.

If you are thinking of transferring your pension, you must request ING CDC Pensioenfonds to execute a value transfer after you join ING. A form 'value transfer' (Dutch only) is available for this purpose. You will receive a proposal for the value transfer at your home address. When you have confirmed that you approve the proposed value, your pension will be transferred.

For a well-informed decision concerning value transfer, you could of course consult an advisor. Or use the Pension Comparison Tool.

For a handy overview of all steps to settle a value transfer, please click here.

As a new participant, you will automatically receive an introductory letter from ING CDC Pensioenfonds, providing information about matters such as:

• Your pension plan and its starting date.
• Whether and when your pension will be adjusted to price and wage increases (indexation) and the conditions that will apply. In other words, what will indexation depend on?
• Partner pension and situations in which partner pension is cancelled.
• The pension fund’s financial position (funding ratio).
• Options provided by your pension plan and how you can tailor your pension to your needs.
• You have access to the Pension Planner and you can find personal information on the website provided by the state: ‘Mijn Pensioenoverzicht’ (‘My Pension Summary’).