Danish Festina Finance’s Life and Pension Platform is expanding its international reach

Life and Pension, a platform by Festina Finance, is expanding its international reach following news of contract negotiation with APG Financial, a leading Dutch pension provider. The platform handles life and pension products, as well as policy administration, capital administration, and money flows.

Festina Finance works with developing cutting-edge advisory systems for personal financial management. In a recent announcement the firm revealed that it has been selected by APG Financial to start contract negotiation, and implementation of a new IT-system for policy and capital administration.

Until now, the administration for many of APG’s clients has been run on the Generic Pension Scheme (GPS), a platform which was developed by APG itself, however as the company’s consumer base and needs expand, so does the need for an expanded IT-system. This need is what prompted the company’s search for a new platform.

Despite the company only being active within the Dutch market for a short time, Festina Finance filled a majority of selection criteria in the Dutch pension provider’s search, in which flexibility of the system and industry knowledge were particularly valued.

But it wasn’t just the company model that made Festina Finance an attractive candidate for the job: the company also has an impressive history, particularly evident in its success in transitioning the large pension fund, PensionDanmark, to a new system using the Life and Pension platform.

Although APG may now purchase the administration system externally, a spokesperson from APG still speaks of a ‘collaboration’ with Festina should it come to a concrete deal.

– The technology is being further developed by our own people, in close collaboration with Festina and their expertise.

Just like APG, Festina also sees the possible agreement as a collaborative process. Peter Klos, manager of the Dutch Festina branch, states:

– The platform can be tailor-made for APG, but of course their employees are intensively involved in this.

 APG’s largest customers ABP and Bpf Bouw are reacting cautiously positively to the news.

– We follow APG’s selection process with great interest and involvement, says an ABP spokesperson when asked.

 – A high-quality pension administration system at APG is of great importance, given the great challenge of introducing the new pension contract, which is in the interest of our participants, and to do it carefully. ABP will also remain involved in the further follow-up process, according to the spokesman.

– Bpf Bouw has every confidence in the process carefully set up by APG, the provisional choice and the intended negotiations, says director of the pension fund, David van As, who has been sufficiently considered in the decision-making process.

– It is an important collaboration that APG is entering into, in a crucial process towards a new system. We will certainly continue to keep our finger on the pulse in the coming period. After all, the board always remains responsible for controlled and ethical business operations.