Eduard Ponds holds the chair of Economics of Collective Pension Plans at Tilburg University. He is expert in economics of pensions and collective pension plans, in particular in the fields of pension funds, pension plan (re)design, risk management, actuarial aspects, intergenerational risk sharing, and classic and value-based ALM. His publications are mainly on collective pensions, in particular related to the pension fund sector in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

He is also employed at APG (www.apg.nl), a pension service provider in the Netherlands with 450 bln euros AuM and 25 clients (end 2018). As of 1995 he has been actuary, research asset management, member management team Finance.

Eduard Ponds has introduced two innovations for the Dutch pension fund sector which are widely used by pension funds. These innovations concern first the so-called policy ladder as tool to define conditional indexation by Dutch pension funds, and secondly the method of value-based ALM and value-based generational accounting which are used to determine generational redistribution in case of changes in the design and funding of collective pension plans.

He is one of the first to recognize the importance of generational transfers within the Dutch pension fund sector, as put forward in his PhD project of 1995, titled: Supplementary pensions, intergenerational risk-sharing and welfare. This topic is now heavily debated for years in a nation-wide debate on pension reform in the Netherlands.

Professor Economics of Pensions, Tilburg University (2007-present)

Program Manager Actuarieel Instituut (2014-2017)

Senior Researcher APG Asset Management- APG All Pensions Group: actuary, member management team Finance (1995-present)

Assistant Professor Open University Netherlands in 'Financial Markets and Institutions' and in 'Monetary Economics and Policy' (1987-1995)

Researcher at TIAS, Tilburg University (1985-1987)

Jiajia Cui (2011): “Essays on pension scheme design and risk management”, Tilburg University, with prof. dr. Frank de Jong.

Hailong Bao (defense 20 december 2016): ”Risk sharing in collective DC”, Tilburg University, with prof. dr. Hans Schumacher.

Jorgo Goossens (start in 2018): “Behavioural Biases and Individual Heterogeneity in Pensions: Household Asset Liability Management”, with prof. dr. Bas Werker, prof. dr. Marike Knoef and dr. Rob van den Goorbergh.

Zina Lekniute (planned 2019): “US state sector pension funds and value-based Generational Accounting”, University of Amsterdam, with prof. dr. Roel Beetsma (UvA).

Member of PhD – Committee

Xiaohong Huang: An Analysis of Occupational Pension Provision: From Evaluation to Redesign, Erasmus University, 3 June 2010.

Esben Masotti Kryger: Five essays in Life Insurance Mathematics, Copenhagen University, 3 September 2010.

Kim Peijnenburg: Consumption, Savings, and Investments over the Life Cycle, Tilburg University, 27 May 2011.

David Hollanders: The effect of ageing on pensions, Tilburg University, 20 June 2012.

Siert-Jan Vos: Intergenerational risk sharing, University of Amsterdam, October 2012.

Jan Bonenkamp: Risk, redistribution and retirement, the role of pension schemes, Tilburg University, 5 June 2013.

Kurbugu Enareta:Essays on Pensions and Generations, University of Evry Val d'Essonne Paris, 2015.

Nicolás Salamanca: Economic Preferences and Financial Risk-Taking, University of Maastricht, 22 January 2015.

Mukul Tyagi: Risks in Pension Plan, Maastricht University, 26 April 2016.

Damiaan Chen: Essays on collective funded pension schemes, University of Amsterdam - 16 December 2016.

Lei Shu: Essays on Retirement Income Provision, University of Amsterdam, 30 January 2017.

Ron van Schie: Planning for retirement: Save more or retire later?, Erasmus University, 28 September 2017.

Richard Mason: Digital Enrollment Architecture and Retirement Savings Decisions: Evidence from the Field, Tilburg University & City University London, 5 November 2019.

Bonekamp Johan: Studies on labour supply, spending and saving before and after retirement, Tilburg University. June 2021.

Click here for my courses.