Report on the effect of the credit crisis on the solvency of Dutch pension funds and its economic consequences

The credit crisis has reduced the funding ratios of Dutch pension funds to a historical minimum. Pension funds now face two challenges. The first is to timely restore funding ratios to safe levels without jeopardizing labour market conditions that also have worsened because of the crisis. The second is to reform schemes such that they are less vulnerable to aggregate shocks in the coming decades in which population ageing is expected to accelerate.