By Ed Crooks and Norma Cohen
Published: December 12 2008 23:01 | Last updated: December 12 2008 23:01
Investments in Royal Dutch Shells Netherlands pension fund have dropped 40 per cent since the start of the year and the scheme has fallen far short of the regulatory minimum requirement, the company has told employees.
It said in a letter that contributions from some employees and the employer would have to rise. It could need increased investment of billions of pounds to comply with Dutch regulations, which demand that schemes in deficit are brought back to asset levels of 105 per cent of liabilities within three years.
Shell will increase its contribution from 5 per cent to 23.6 per cent of pensionable salary.
Although the measures will only affect Dutch pension scheme members, the financing will have an effect on Shell, which is listed in London.
The scheme is now only 85 per cent-funded compared with 180 per cent at the end of last year. The Netherlands has one of the toughest pension funding regimes in the world but does not have a pension insurance fund to guarantee benefits for workers whose employer has become insolvent without a fully funded scheme.
The letter was published by royaldutchshellplc.com, a website used to air complaints against Shell. The letter said that its assets were 70 per cent invested in equities and there was an above average allocation to emerging markets, both sectors that have suffered badly in the downturn.
Shell confirmed that the fund had fallen into deficit, but would not say how much more it expected to have to pay in. It is reviewing its investment strategy and has shifted some assets into government bonds.
Shells UK pension fund shifted out of equities and into bonds in 2007, and remains in surplus.
The company said the deficit would have no effect on current pension payments, but could affect whether workers pensions kept pace with future inflation.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
