European Pensions Directive 2016/2341/EU

Factsheet

Read aloud

The European Pensions Directive 2016/2341/EU contains rules that apply to almost all pension institutions in Europe, regardless of their name, form or legal status. This Directive specifies among other things that pension institutions can operate pension schemes of employers from other Member States. This Directive also includes an obligation to establish key functions and sets additional requirements with regard to risk management. This Directive replaces an earlier Directive from 2003 (2003/41/EC).

Published: 25 February 2019

As in the case of the previous Directive, this Directive contains rules on pension institutions’ cross-border operations. For example, in terms of prudential supervision, the regulations of the pension institution's home country apply, even if the institution operates a pension scheme from another Member State. However, the tax, social security and labour law of the employees’ country of employment continues to apply to the pension scheme outsourced to another Member State.

The investment regulations of pension institutions are subject to the prudent person rule, which means that the pension institution is required to act in the same way as a careful, sensible and prudent asset manager would act in similar circumstances. This is an open standard, and various Member States apply different interpretations. The Netherlands predominantly sets qualitative standards. These are detailed in the Financial Assessment Framework ( Financieel Toetsingskader – FTK ).

Directive 2016/2341/EU introduces new rules strengthening the governance of pension institutions, further specifies the procedure for cross-border value transfers and prescribes additional disclosure requirements.

Governance

The strengthening of the governance concerns the requirement of integrated risk management, the introduction of key functions for risk management, actuarial duties and internal audit (i.e. clear separation between implementation and supervision of implementation) and the addition of a compulsory own-risk assessment to be carried out at least every three years.

Cross-border value transfers

The further specification of the process of cross-border value transfers serves to strengthen the rights of employees. For example, the Directive introduces criteria against which DNB can assess – and if necessary block – group value transfers from a Dutch pension scheme to a pension institution in another Member State.

Additional disclosure requirements

The Directive also introduces additional disclosure requirements stipulating that a pension institution’s remuneration policy, any sanctions imposed by the supervisory authority and any notifications to the supervisory authority regarding outsourced activities or serious malpractices must be publicly disclosed. This Directive was implemented in Dutch law and regulations on 13 January 2019.

Base law

Richtlijn (EU) 2016/2341 (Refers to an external site)

Discover related articles

Factsheet

Pension funds

Share:

Share on LinkedIn

Share on X

Share on Facebook

Share via Email

Interesting articles

Dutch insurers and pension funds have been investing more in private assets in recent years

15 July 2026

News item supervision

Dutch insurers and pension funds are investing more and more in private assets, such as private equity and private credit. By 2025, they had a combined total of €276 billion worth of these investments on their books.

Read more Dutch insurers and pension funds have been investing more in private assets in recent years

News item supervision

15 July 2026

DNB email on technical adjustments

25 June 2026

News item supervision

This week, you may receive an email from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). This email concerns technical adjustments required to continue corresponding with DNB by email.

Read more DNB email on technical adjustments

News item supervision

25 June 2026

Update FATF-warning lists June 2026

23 June 2026

News item supervision

FATF released an update of its ‘grey’ and ‘black’ lists.

Read more Update FATF-warning lists June 2026

News item supervision

23 June 2026

Eurosystem presents proposals to strengthen macroprudential oversight of the non bank financial sector

05 May 2026

News item supervision

The Eurosystem has published policy proposals aimed at strengthening the macroprudential oversight of the non bank financial intermediation (NBFI) sector. The proposals seek to improve the identification and mitigation of risks to financial stability.

Read more Eurosystem presents proposals to strengthen macroprudential oversight of the non bank financial sector

News item supervision

05 May 2026

Necessary cookies

To ensure the proper operation of the website, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) uses functional cookies and analytics cookies, and has taken measures to ensure that these cookies have little or no impact on the privacy of website users.

Optional cookies

Some pages include embedded content from external websites. These websites may use proprietary (tracking) cookies. This allows third parties to track visitor statistics, show personalised content and display targeted ads, for example.

You can make your choice about allowing these optional cookies both when you first visit the website and when you navigate to a page with embedded content.