BeFrank with IT system ready for the new pensions

BeFrank is one of the first pension administrators to have its IT system ready for the new pensions system, which took effect on 1 July 2023. Info Support supported BeFrank in this by providing experts with high-quality IT knowledge and experience. They have the right domain knowledge of the financial services segment, which was deployed within BeFrank’s development teams. With Info Support’s contribution, among others, the pension administrator was able to take the right steps to prepare its IT environment for the new pensions system.

The new pension law is better suited to the current times and ensures that everyone in the Netherlands gets a good pension, including generations coming after us. Employers have until 1 January 2028 to adjust their pension schemes. This is achieved through their pension administrator.

This is why BeFrank wanted to be ready to implement new pension schemes as soon as possible. Because BeFrank develops its own IT applications and systems, it could decide for itself when it would be ready for the new pension law. This makes BeFrank one of the first pension administrators that can serve participants under the new pension law.

Forerunners in the market

BeFrank was founded in 2010 with the aim of making pensions more understandable and accessible. It was one of the first in the market with an online portal offering real-time insights. The pension administrator has several agile development teams that focus mainly on developing new features for the customer. Those teams also include Info Supporters with up-to-date domain knowledge.

“Because at BeFrank we want to be forerunners in the market, we were able to move quickly and get our IT system ready for the new pension law,” says Ilona van den Berg, Manager Information & Technology at BeFrank. “Our developers are working hard to create the best pension product in the market. We constantly want to offer something new. Every project our IT teams deliver contributes to market innovation. This way, we can quickly respond to developments and changes in the market.”

“A good example is how we have set up the choices for the surviving dependants’ pension for participants,” van den Berg continues. “With the new pension law, the surviving dependants’ pension will be changing and there will be more options. We therefore want to offer participants a user-friendly online choice environment and guide them as best we can in the choices they make. For choices around the surviving dependants’ pension, we now offer insight into and an overview of what has been arranged and what can still be arranged.”

“We aim for an eighty per cent activation rate within our portals. Our online choice environment helps achieve this high activation rate. Activation is about facilitating choices in a broader sense, especially in the field of investments. Sustainability plays a key role at BeFrank. With us, the employer and the participant have choices in sustainability. We offer three different forms of investment that participants can choose from.”

Cooperation with Info Support

BeFrank has been working with Info Support since 2013. Besides providing high-quality IT knowledge and experience, Info Support supports the pension administrator with other services. For example, Info Support manages BeFrank’s cloud environment, which is also connected to the Info Support Security Operations Centre (SOC). With these certified services, BeFrank guarantees the strict governance and compliance requirements that apply within the financial services segment.

In addition, the BeFrank developers, together with the Info Supporters, ensure that they are aware – and keep abreast – of the latest developments and technologies in, for example, the cloud and Kubernetes. This enables the pension administrator to maintain a state-of-the-art IT environment and to serve its customers reliably and safely.

This article was produced in collaboration with Info Support.