Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn

PFZW's predecessor, PGGM, was founded in June 1969 through the merger of several smaller Dutch pension funds in the healthcare industry. In 1970, PGGM assumed responsibility for the pensions of employees throughout the health care and social work sectors in the Netherlands. In 1972, PGGM moved to its current headquarters in Zeist, Netherlands.

PFZW is as a non-profit foundation, controlled by trade unions and employers from the healthcare and social work sectors. At the end of 2006, the governing board of what was then known as PGGM adopted a separation between its policy (structuring of pensions) and implementation (managing of assets and payment) functions. The pension fund (the foundation) continues to formulate pension policy, but was renamed Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), and a newly created cooperative PGGM managed the fund’s €161.7 billion of assets under management. This separation, which took effect in January 2008 and was taken in response to new legislation passed in the Netherlands that would limit PGGM’s ability to offer related financial services.