Latest Amsterdam News
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Netherlands to keep producing top players
Dutch specialists believed that the Netherlands will keep producing top soccer players in the foreseeable future, based on the country's efficient youth training system. Just one year ago the Netherlands advanced to the FIFA World Cup final in South Africa. Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie are the names of the current stars of the national team. They are the successors of ...
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PageUp People to Spotlight Visionary Talent Management Solutions at iRecruit 2.013 in Amsterdam
DETAILS: Hiring, developing and managing top talent across continents and country codes comes with countless challenges. Opting to integrate the right talent management solutions into workforce strategy can work to support multinational employers and strike a balance between global efficiency and local responsiveness. Exhibiting at the iRecruit 2.013 European Conference & Expo, attendees ...
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Dutch government may miss 2014 deficit target
AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has confirmed the government's plan to cut spending in 2014 but acknowledged that the Netherlands may breach European deficit targets again anyway. EU rules require countries to limit budget deficits to 3 percent of annual gross domestic product. The European Commission granted the country permission to miss the target in ...
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Netflix rises following expansion into Netherlands
+1.84% shares on Wednesday rose 2%, to $233.77, after the company said it would expand its online video-streaming service to the Netherlands later this year. With the move into the Netherlands, Netflix will be available in seven European countries and 41 international markets. Netflix had a total of 36 million video-streaming subscribers in the U.S. and abroad at the end of the first quarter of ...
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Netflix Will Be Available In The Netherlands This Year
Netflix announced on Wednesday that it will launch in the Netherlands in late 2013. This will mark the 41st country where the service is available. It’s hard to say just what all content will be available, but Netflix does say, ';Upon launch, broadband Internet users in the Netherlands can subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch Hollywood, local and global TV series and films, ...
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Three Die In Dutch Liquid Manure Tank
Three men have died after becoming trapped in a manure tank in a rural part of The Netherlands. A fourth was taken to hospital in a critical condition. De Telegraaf said that one victim was the 26-year-old youngest son of the farm owner. The detail was attributed to a neighbour who was involved in the rescue. He added that a 29-year-old man from Joure and a 42-year old man from ...
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Dutch pension funds need ‘firm measures’ to return to satisfactory funding levels
Firm measures are necessary to bring scheme funding levels of Dutch pension funds up to the minimum required funding ratio of 105 per cent within five years, warns De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) in its Annual Report 2008. DNB, which is responsible for safeguarding financial stability in the Netherlands, said the funding level at the end of 2008, which stood at 95 per cent, can be brought up ...
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Dutch pension funds sell off securities
EUR 26bn worth of securities were sold by Dutch pension funds in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to figures published by De Nederlandsche Bank. The funds carried out equities sales totalling almost €9bn, and disposed of €17bn worth of debt certificates such as bonds. Due to these sales, and to substantial price losses on the funds’ equity holdings, the value of ...
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Dutch tax authorities rule on landmark tax rebate for UK pension funds
UK pension funds are set to enjoy a €100million rebate from the Dutch tax authorities following a tax ruling, says the UK branch of KPMG. The professional services provider’s test claimant, Strathclyde Pension Fund, has brought a successful legal challenge against the Dutch tax authority for a levied ‘withholding tax’ (WHT) on dividend payments to tax exempt bodies ...
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Net worth of Dutch investment funds decreases further
The net worth of supervised Dutch investment funds fell by €6.4bn (eight per cent) in the third quarter of 2008 (Q3 2008), with De Nederlandsche Bank attributing losses to investment write-downs and net withdrawals by investors. Equity price falls of 11 per cent, which were in line with the worldwide drop in equity prices of 12 per cent, according to the MSCI World Index, was the ...
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Dutch pension funds receive €4.9bn in dividends over 11 months
Between April 2007 and March 2008, Dutch pension funds are reported as having received €4.9bn in dividends on quoted shares, according to De Nederlandsche Bank. Pension fund holdings of these quoted shares averaged at €195bn in that period, which excluded quoted shares held through mutual funds. The Bank said that dividend income is used for two things, either as a major ...
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AEGON continues international expansion
Financial services organisation AEGON has entered into a partnership with Catalan-based savings bank Caixa Terrassa Vida, which will distribute AEGON life insurance, pension and health products through its network of almost 300 bank branches. AEGON has bought a 50 per cent stake in the Spanish bank’s life insurance and pension unit for €190 million. The partnership with ...
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Netherlands streets ahead in use of Liability Driven Investment
Sixty-one per cent of Dutch pension funds are currently employing a Liability Driven Investment (LDI) strategy, an increase of 18 per cent on last year’s figures. Fiduciary manager SEI revealed the results of a Global Quick Poll of the global pension fund space, surveying executives overseeing pensions in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Canada and the Netherlands. There was also an ...
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AEGON reports strong Q2 performance
AEGON has reported solid business performance and a strong capital position as part of it Q2 2008 results, in spite of recent market turmoil. Specific to the European pensions market, the firm experienced strong growth in group pension sales in the Netherlands – where AEGON already has a 25 per cent market share - which included the sale of one large contract, while renewal rates ...
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Slight growth in Dutch mutual funds
Dutch mutual funds expanded their share in Dutch household investments from 54 per cent to 55 per cent in the first quarter 2008, according to De Nederlandsche Bank. The Bank said the increase may be a turnaround in a declining trend, and sees the various measures taken since 2006 to improve the business climate for mutual funds in the Netherlands as beginning to take effect. However, ...
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AEGON releases €315million in securitisation transaction
AEGON has completed a €315million securitisation transaction to improve capital efficiency and optimise their capital structure as part of the group’s new strategy. The transaction adds the equivalent of around £250million of core capital, enhancing the financial flexibility of the group and improving the return on capital deployed in the UK. The move forms part of ...
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AEGON moves further into Eastern Europe
AEGON has further cemented its presence in Central and Eastern Europe with the acquisition of the Turkish life insurance and pension provider Ankara Emeklilik. The acquisition marks AEGON’s first step into the Turkish market, and is marketed as part of a broader strategy to build scale in emerging markets. The firm agreed to buy Ankara Emeklilik in February 2008, and AEGON also has ...
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Dutch pension liabilities fall
The value of the Dutch pension funds’ technical provisions stood at approximately €493bn at year-end 2007, a drop in liabilities of €14bn, according to De Nederlandsche Bank. Pension funds calculate these technical provisions in order to estimate what they are required to pay to future pensioners, and the size of this is dependent on factors such as capital market rates ...
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AEGON expands on Eastern European presence
AEGON Hungary Pension Fund is set to merge with UNIQA and Public Service Pension Fund in an attempt to further strengthen AEGON’s presence in the ever-developing pensions market across Central and Eastern ...
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Dutch metal pension funds launch joint in SRI policy
The two Dutch pension funds for the metal industry, the €33bn Pensioenfonds Metaalelektro (PMT) and the €21.5bn Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek (PME), have launched a joint social responsible investment policy. In conjunction with asset manager and pension provider Mn Services, jointly owned by PME and PMT, the two funds have drawn eight lead principles from international ...
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AEGON builds on first quarter success with Poland merger approval
AEGON, the life insurance and pensions company, has reported a nine per cent rise in underlying earnings before tax in its first quarter 2008 report. The report shows that operating earnings and net income has been affected by the recent instability of the world financial markets, but AEGON has reported no significant impairments. AEGON has also reiterated its confidence in meeting its ...
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Holland must do more to promote itself as pooling hub
Holland must do more to promote itself as a centre for international asset pooling, says a new report from the Netherlands, while also preserving the strength of the Dutch pensions ...
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Dutch financial confidence knocked by sub-prime crisis
Financial stability in the Netherlands is less favourable than it was six months ago, according to the DNB’s most recent assessment of the region. The Overview of Financial Stability (OFS), published by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), highlighted a recent period in the market when, triggered by the crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market, liquidity evaporated in various credit ...
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Leading Dutch funds allocate €500m to clean technology
ABP and PGGM have re-inforced their commitment to sustainable investment with a joint mandate to invest in innovative, clean technology. The two largest pension funds in the Netherlands have appointed AlpInvest* to invest €500 million in innovative, clean technology in one of the largest mandates ever to be placed on the international private equity market. This is the first time ...
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Aegon enhances CEE prescence
AEGON has made further moves to bolster its presence in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) marketplace. Following its acquisition of PTE Ergo Hestia earlier this year, AEGON and BRE Bank have entered into exclusive negotiations on a possible merger of their two Polish pension funds, PTE Ergo Hestia SA and PTE Skarbiec-Emerytura SA. As part of the discussions, BRE Bank would grant AEGON ...
Amsterdam in Focus
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Amsterdam and the Clash of Civilisations: is this city on the frontline?
There is a polarising pattern of insult and violence going round and round in Europe, and Amsterdam seems to be one of the cities leading the continent down the spiral toward a culture of intolerance toward everyone who isn't European.
The Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks is frequently in the media for his decisively controversial cartoons that seem to unremittingly try and provoke the Islamic communities across Europe. Just this week alone he was the target of two separate assassination plots that were to be carried out, interestingly, by two women who had converted to the religion he vilifies. Read more
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