Dutch pension funds invested over 14% of €960bn pension assets domestically at the end of March this year, a survey has revealed.

According to the De Nederlandsche Bank's (DNB) survey, €12.7bn of the assets that are invested domestically was allocated to Dutch mortgages and €1bn was invested in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

The DNB said that the figures are "important pointers" for the current debate about the role of pension funds in lending to enterprises and households in the Netherlands.

The supervisory authority emphasised that its role is primarily to ensure that investments are in the interest of pension fund members and that investment risks are adequately controlled.

From the €134.9bn that was invested in the country, €87.1bn was invested in Dutch fixed-income assets, which consisted of government bonds (€43.5bn), mortgage loans (€12.7bn), corporate bonds (€14bn) and cash receivables (€16.9bn).

Dutch pension funds invested €21.7bn in Dutch real estate from a total of €91.3bn real estate investments.

From a total of €30.6bn invested in residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), €12.7bn was invested in the Netherlands.

The survey of 30 pension schemes, which together manage 81% of the country's pension fund assets, also revealed that pension funds invest around €1bn directly in Dutch SME equity, although due to as investments in SME are often made indirectly, the actual figure may actually be larger.

First published 30.08.2013

monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk