May 2010 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

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Bizz News Few strikes in 2009, 5,000 working days lost Workers were called out on strike just 25 times in the Netherlands last year, leading to the loss of 5,000 working days, the national statistics office CBS said. This total is the lowest figure since 1985. In 2008, 121,000 days were lost through strikes. Almost half of the strikes last year affected manufacturing and industry sectors and conflicts over pay or reorganisations were the most common causes. In six cases, strikes were called in response to violence against staff. This year, however, the total is likely to be far higher. The cleaning sector has been on strike for weeks and industrial action is pending in several other sectors as employers demand workers accept a pay freeze. KLM considers borrowing cash from its own pension fund KLM, part of the Air France-KLM group, is considering borrowing a ‘hefty sum of money’ from one of its three pension funds to ease its financial situation. ‘Borrowing money is expensive because of the market percentages we have to pay, which is why we are looking at this,’ a spokeswoman for the airline told Dow Jones. She declined to comment on what other measures KLM may be looking at. The press bases its claims on trade union and pension fund sources. Civil service cuts must have a purpose, says council of state chief Mr. Tjeenk Willink, deputy president of the government’s Council of State advisory body, quoted that the number of civil servants has to be cut and merging government ministries must be done with an actual purpose. Most political party manifestos include ministerial mergers and civil service cuts without any underlying vision, Willink said in a speech marking the publication of the council’s annual report. ‘In the long term, cuts without vision lead to more costs, not fewer,’ Willink said. ‘We have seen that when we abolished tram conductors.’ ‘If developments in the private sector have taught us anything, it is that bigger does not necessarily mean better. Small, homogeneous entities are more effective,’ he said. The Financiele Dagblad picks up on Willink’s criticism of the way the market is seen to be more important than the public interest. Parliament should have paid more attention to the sale of the Amsterdam stock exchange to the New York bourse in 2006 and the takeover of ABN Amro by a consortium of three banks in 2007, he said. Cabinet overspend set to reach €3bn this year Ministers have overspent their budgets by a total of almost €3bn this year, confidential sources have told the Financiele Dagblad. At the end of February, the overspend was put at a maximum €2.5bn. The finance ministry has refused to confirm the new figure, but has admitted the picture presented at the end of February was ‘not complete’, the paper says. The health ministry has recorded the biggest over-run on its budget, with spending outstripping forecasts by €1.5bn. The education ministry is also spending more than it should, the paper says. Acting finance minister Jan Kees de Jager told the paper that the cabinet’s caretaker status makes it difficult to take steps to bring spending back under control. ‘Regardless how we do it, we’ll get there,’ he said. It will be difficult to order health service cuts, because contracts have already been signed with healthcare providers, the paper states. Most parties have committed themselves to not making cuts in education and healthcare spending in their election manifestos. Four firms drop out of bidding for new mobile phone frequencies Five companies will take part in the mobile phone frequency auction, the economic affairs ministry said. In March, nine companies had said they planned to take part in the bidding, the ministry said earlier. The ministry declined to say which companies had dropped out. There have been rumours that some potential bidders, such as cable companies UPC and Ziggo, may have joined forces. The Dutch mobile phone market is currently dominated by KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone. New players Also it emerged KPN and Vodafone had gone to court in an effort to get the auction postponed. They are unhappy that the process includes provisions to make sure at least three new players enter the Dutch market. But the court in Rotterdam rejected their applications, without giving any reason. 12
Bizz News AEX DOWN BY PROBLEMS IN GREECE AND PORTUGAL The AEX index suffers from the reduced credit worthiness of Greece and Portugal. Last week the stock fell even on Wall Street and in Asia in response to the news. Standard en Poor’s (S & P) lowered the status of the Portuguese long-term debt A+ to A-level, short-term liabilities were A-2 status. The rating agency expects only a weak economic growth in the medium term. Portugal has a deficit of 9.4 percent. The status of Greek loans was set at BB+. This is the first level at which S & P advises not to invest. The deficit of the Greeks is 13.6 percent. The status of S & P is often linked to the rate that a country must pay on loans. Bank tax proceeds should go to treasury: finance minister The proceeds of any new tax on banking profits should go to the treasury rather than a special fund for banks which get into trouble, finance minister Jan Kees de Jager said at a meeting of European finance ministers in Madrid. De Jager backs a banking tax as long as the demands placed on banks are not too high and that the tax is coordinated internationally. ‘The banks have to be in a position to continue to do their job,’ quoted the minister. He opposes the setting up of a special emergency fund, as put forward by internal market commissioner, Michel Barnier. This could give banks the idea they can carry on as they wish because any risks they take are covered, De Jager said. Dutch central bank president Nout Wellink also warned that the tax could bring disadvantages. Barnier is expected to present formal proposals for a banking tax in June. Cut pension fund numbers to boost expertise: central bank If the number of corporate pension funds in the Netherlands were reduced from 600 to around 100, it would be easier to find enough expert managers to run them, Joanne Kellerman, head of pension fund supervision at the central bank, told during a tv show. In addition, there should be better individual assessments of fund managers and better provision of information, Kellerman said. But workers should also take steps to improve their financial acumen, she said. ‘It is a pity that so many people are not making the effort to familiarise themselves [with their pensions]’ NOS tv quoted her as saying. Research by the financial services regulator AFM showed that a large majority of people expect their pension to be equal to 70% of their last earned salary, but most people will get less, the NOS pointed out. Conference Agenda 1 1 1-2 1-3 2-3 3-4 7-9 8-10 8-11 12-14 15-16 21-24 22-23 22-23 22-24 23-25 23-26 June Leaders In Luxury Singapore TradeTech India Mumbai Coal Tech 2010 Brisbane 2 nd annual CDMA WORLD FORUM Shanghai Offshore Asset Life Extension Kuala Lumpur Private Equity Investor Relations Hong Kong Middle East Petrochemical 2010 Abu Dhabi GreenTech 2010 Sydney World Vaccine Congress Asia 2010 Singapore Retail Banking Asia-Pacific 2010 Kuala Lumpur Strategic HR Management Summit Auckland Real Estate Investment World Asia 2010 Singapore Carbon Capture & Storage World Australia 2010 Melbourne Prepaid Mobile North Asia 2010 Shanghai 3 rd Annual Retail Asia Congress 2010 Hong Kong CSG Drilling & Completions 2010 Brisbane Private Wealth Management Asia 2010 Hong Kong Log on to www.conferencebay.com for more information on these and other events 13
Page 1 and 2: Association of Dutch Businessmen in
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May 2010 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

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