Frederick Potter 
The institutional views on retail forex trading have changed significantly, as Dutch pension fund managers have been noting increasing numbers of their beneficiaries using online trading platforms during volatile market periods. The administrators of the fund often face inquiries posed by the members regarding the activities of forex trading and whether the investments are in line with the long-term retirement plan strategies. Many pension fund executives are concerned about retail trading because they think the cautious saving habits on which traditional pension systems are based to produce sustainable returns might be undermined.
Techniques of risk assessment as applied by Dutch pension funds normally categorize forex trading as a speculative activity that is incompatible with conservative investment practices needed to guarantee a secure retirement. Fund managers study the behavior patterns of members on a regular basis, and they have observed some correlation between the active trading time and lower voluntary pension rates made by some groups in the population. It is on these observations that some funds have produced educational material on the dangers of leveraged trading and urged their members to invest in long-term wealth accumulation instead.
Fiduciary responsibilities prevent most Dutch pension funds from forming direct relationships with or recommending certain forex broker services to their members, regardless of their requests. To prevent the risks of a liability situation, legal counsel always suggest that the institutional investments of the pension provider should be kept apart with individual trading choices made by members. This risk-averse approach helps address broader duty-of-care liabilities that pension schemes have to their beneficiaries at varying levels of risk.
Pension funds engage in educational outreach campaigns and regularly send warnings about the dangers of forex trading; however, such campaigns sometimes work against the interests of the pension fund by making members more interested in the trading activities instead of trying to deter them. Speculative trading is often a subject of fund newsletters and member seminars. Younger beneficiaries might see such messages as an investment opportunity rather than as a warning sign. In pension organizations, the communication experts have a hard time finding a balance between educating the members and not inadvertently encouraging risky financial behavior.
Co-ordination of the regulation of the pension funds by the bodies in charge of the financial markets adds another layer of complexity in dealing with the trading activities of the member, which may lead to a reduction in the adequacy of the retirement savings. Dutch pension regulators are left to consider whether individual forex trading is a systemic risk to retirement security, especially when trading losses impair the ability of pension fund members to make the necessary contributions. These issues are more urgent in economic recessions when not only trading losses may influence the stability of the pension system but also the employment interference.
The issues that can be seen as the conflict between investment policy are when the members of the pension fund want to be able to use their retirement account to trade in forex or when they want to be advised on the possibility of using currency speculation in personal financial planning. Such requests are generally unsuccessful because of regulatory limitations and fiduciary issues that fund investment committees usually face, but they result in dissatisfaction and complaints from members regarding the lack of investment options. Other funds have thought of providing controlled exposure to foreign currency markets using professionally managed options, but this is complicated to do.
Pension funds also offer member counseling services that increasingly deal with financial planning queries that deal with forex losses and how they affect the retirement preparedness. Advisors working in the financial services of pension-related companies usually assist members who have experienced serious consequences from trading and require guidance on reconstructing their retirement investments. This set of counseling sessions points at the conflict between personal financial independence and welfare of a collective pension system that fund managers will have to take equal measures.
Dutch pension funds are now carrying out actuarial modeling in which they consider the possible effects of large-scale retail trading of securities on the tendency of members to make contributions and on the outcome of retirement. Marketing of a forex broker to pension fund members has led actuaries to consider how speculative trading trends may impact the sustainability of long-term funds. These projections assist the people in charge of pension funds to comprehend macro demographic and behavioral trends that may affect future retirement security of their clients.
The scope of professional development programs in pension fund organizations has been broadened to cover training on the trends of retail trading and how this will impact financial wellness and retirement plans of the members.