The funding level and the policy funding level are published around the 10th working day of each month.
Funding level on January 31, 2025: 119.0%
Policy funding level on January 31, 2025: 119.8%
The policy funding level is used to make decisions on indexation. The policy funding level is the average of the last twelve months of funding levels.
Click here for more information about the monthly development of the funding level.
Funding level evolution
The Board has decided to increase the pensions of members by 1.65% and the pensions of deferred members and pensioners by 1.01%. This resulted in the funding level decreasing as at end December 2024 from 118.4% to 117.1%. The pension fund’s funding level rose again in January by 1.9 percentage points to 119.0% as at end January.
Share markets achieved a positive return in January. Interest rates rose, which had a positive effect on the funding level due to the fact that the pension fund hedges part of the interest rate risk. On balance, the funding level result was positive.
The inauguration of Donald Trump as 47th President of the United States took place in January. In the run-up to the inauguration, the financial markets were already anticipating Trump’s previously announced plans, such as deregulation, tax cuts and investments. The aim of these plans is to stimulate economic growth. As Trump’s plans were favourably received by the financial markets, this resulted in rising share prices. However, there are also concerns with respect to the expected budget deficit increase and plans to introduce new trade tariffs. This initially caused interest rates to rise in the United States, before falling again later.
The introduction of a Chinese artificial intelligence model (DeepSeek) caused major losses at the end of January for IT companies including Nvidia and Microsoft in the United States and ASML in the Netherlands. The fear was that DeepSeek would slow the growth in demand for high-quality chips. Share markets showed signs of recovery again in the final trading days of the month.
The United States central bank kept the key interest rate constant; a decision that was in line with expectations. The central bank aims to first await further developments in inflation and the economy before taking a decision to adjust the key interest rate. In Europe, the European central bank reduced the key interest rate for the fifth consecutive time. It is expected that more reductions will follow later this year.
The Board will continue to monitor developments closely.
The table below shows the quarterly funding levels in previous years. The table also shows the interest rate we are obliged operate (the market interest) and the returns.
The quarterly funding level is adjusted a few weeks before the end of each quarter.
| Position at the end | Q4 2024 | Q3 2024 | Q2 2024 | Q1 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| Funding level | 117.1% | 120.6% | 121.7% | 119.1% | 117.4% | 120.0% | 117.3% | 103.3% | 107.6% |
| Policy funding level | 119.7% | 121.0% | 122.3% | 122.7% | 123.5% | 125.0% | 111.9% | 98.4% | 105.7% |
| Acturial interest rate | 2.2% | 2.3% | 2.6% | 2.4% | 2.3% | 2.6% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.7% |
| Annual return | 6.3% | 6.2% | 0.7% | 1.7% | 9.4% | -19.5% | 6.8% | 6.5% | 16.9% |
See the menu on the right of the screen for more information about the financial developments.
The funding level is an important yardstick for judging the pension fund’s financial situation. This shows the relationship between SPF’s pension assets and SPF’s pension obligations, both now and in the future. If the funding level is 110%, for example, then for every €100 SPF pays to pensioners (among others), SPF has €110 worth of assets at that time.
The variable net pension is adjusted annually on the basis of the result achieved in the previous year. This result includes the return achieved on investments, the development of the market interest rate and the result on death within the group of everyone with a variable pension.
| As the end of | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
| Funding level | 102.17% | 99.93% | 103.96% | 111.27% | 104.67% |
| Result | 2.17% | -0.07% | +3.96% | +11.27% | +4.67% |
| Average interest rate | 2.30% | 2.50% | 2.90% | 0.45% | 0.00% |
| Return | 4.90% | 8.94% | -23.22% | 3.15% | 8.14% |
The total positive result achieved for the group in 2024 is 2.17%. Despite the negative result as a result of the lower interest rate in 2024, this result is largely the result of the positive return on investments over 2024. This allows SPF to increase the variable pension.
The fund divides the achieved result over 5 years. As a result, based on the result over 2024, the increase in the variable pension over 2025 to 2029 is equal to 0.48% per year.
For more information and figures, see the Brochure 'Indexation’.