Present:  Pierre Chaigneau, Georges Darrer, Peter Vine, Lars Gellerstad, Ed Peter, Denis Hill

Report on meeting with DuPont 9th September:

The Pension Fund: The pension fund at the end of 2015 had a coverage of 100.4%. The interest rate was reduced to 2.5% from January 2016 and this required an increase in the plan reserves which was accomplished by  transferring the employers reserves into the plan reserves. The future goal is to keep the coverage at the 100% level and this will mean extra payments into the fund if the fund performance doesn’t cover the needs. The old goal of reaching 124% is thus removed.

DuPont /Dow Merger: There wasn’t any news on the merger as they are also in the dark. The request to put out a general letter assuring employees and pensioners that their future pensions were safe was raised and a Town Meeting with employees would be held on the 14th November was planned to update them on the merger. A separate letter would be sent to pensioners at the same time.

TPG/RAP:  It was made clear that a formal reply is needed for the participants on the policy on the RAP interpretation and that DuPont doesn’t see the need for an independent review to resolve differences.

Other Items:

The legal review of the TPG/RAP: Denis reviewed the results of our independent legal review which results in our interpretation of the policy being correct.                                                                                  Georges stated that the guidelines were written without the precision of the Pension rules and this left it open to interpretation. He said the financing of the TPG scheme was separate from the Pension Fund and DISA funded. Ed added that this was a DISA/European question and not Wilmington related so they couldn’t interfere.

Pierre and Denis will set up a meeting with Arnold to discuss.

The merger and pension Guarantees:   Pierre emphasized the importance of having some kind of communication strategy to cope with the messages and questions related to the USA pension situation in particular and also to other European countries. It was stated that the US letter on the subject was useful but as each DuPont country subsidiary had their own practices and rules each country would not be impacted in the same way. While it is good to hear what other countries, especially the US, are doing we have to realise that it is the DISA situation which is our reference point. Peter Vine will draft a statement on this for our members.

XDISA Association: Only 92 members have signed up to date, about 25%, and a reminder should be sent out to the whole association. It was proposed that we schedule our General Assembly in late spring 2017 and that we send out a pre-notice soon.

Excellent initiative that will benefit many people. Particular thanks to the “committee” for stepping in to get this off the ground & keep us connected. Phil Britton.

 Welcome to the XDISA Association!

The Ad-hoc group held a meeting on May 11 2016 and reviewed current issues and how to best handle them. As indicated previously, it was decided to create an association.

So now it is done! The XDISA Association is born.

The  Statutes of the association have been placed on the website as well as the minutes of the May 11 meeting.

The key element of the statutes is Article 3 which reads:

The Association aims to safeguard the interests of present and future beneficiaries of the pension fund DuPont de Nemours International S.a.r.l and beneficiaries of specific advantages linked to the pensions provided by the company DuPont de Nemours International S.a.r.l to individuals or groups of individuals in addition to benefits directly related to the pension plan managed by the pension fund founded by DuPont de Nemours International S.a.r.l

The rest of the statutes deal with the methods and the legal aspects of running an association.

Now we need to officially enroll members. This can be done by filling in the Enrollment form below. The membership fee has been set at CHF 30 a year.

This newsletter is being sent to 296 addressees for whom we have an e-mail address. We encourage you to share this news with your retiree friends.

Another important piece of news is that DuPont has made a formal statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to confirm their engagement to stick by their commitments in terms of pensions.

This document is also placed on the website for your information.

Communications with DISA management and the Pension Fund team continues.

The Association is directed by a committee with the following membership:

President: Pierre Chaigneau
Secretary: Georges Darrer
Treasurer: Hans Ackermann
Members: Lars Gellerstad, Denis Hill, Ed Peter, Peter Taylor, Peter Vine.

Greetings from your committee!

REGISTRATION FORM

Membership fee is CHF 30.-/year payable to our account at the BCV

IBAN CH03 0076 7000 E508 3457 9
DUPONT PENSIONER NETWORK

[contact-form-7 id=”941″ title=”Member Registsration”]

Notes on Meeting DuPont 2nd March 2016

Present: Chris Newton, Arnold Dikkers, Pierre Chaigneau, Georges Darrer, Denis Hill

This meeting was requested by the Pensioners Ad-Hoc Group to discuss concerns raised by pensioners about the Dow/DuPont merger and the impact on their pensions and health insurance in the future once the merger and the split into 3 companies was completed.

The ad-hoc group had sent a copy of the letter issued to pensioners in the US to Chris and requested that a similar letter be sent by DISA to all pensioners which could help alleviate fears by specifying that DuPont would honour all its legal obligations regarding the safeguarding of their interests. Chris said this would be given careful consideration. The ad-hoc group asked that this should also cover the European Transfer Pension Guidelines including the RAP process.

The timelines for the series of actions on the merger will start with the 2nd quarter 2016 DuPont AGM when shareholders will be asked to approve the merger. The merger is then expected to take place in the second half of 2016 with a period up to 2 years for the split in the 3 separate companies.

The pension plan will have to sit with one of these companies or with some, as yet unknown, alternative solution.

The 2015 results of the pension fund are not yet finalised but expectations are for a small loss and a coverage above 100%. . Currently there are about 900 pensioners and about 400 employees in the fund. George queried the current Technical Interest Rate of 3% versus the Swiss LPP rate of 1.75%. Chris said for the 2015 accounts the plan was to use 2.5% for measuring pensioner liabilities.

The TPG/RAP review process was moving more slowly than planned as the merger had had some implications on peoples availability to address it.

However, an extra person at 50% had been drafted in to help. Initially they plan to address pensioners in groups per country to resolve national issues at one go versus mixing national implications hoping to speed up the overall review of all approx. 200 pensioners involved. DISA has by far the greater number of these. The minutes of the telephone conference between Denis and the DuPont representatives last November had still not been replied to but a draft was in place and would be issued shortly to address all the issues raised. Two main

points were emphasised in the review which covered the Guaranteed Retirement Income which should include the actual monies received by the pensioner and not a calculated amount to cover Social Security variations. Also the need to have a DISA meeting of impacted pensioners to fully explain the process and the results. Arnold handed out an initial proposal on the Basic TPG concepts which is a good starting point in the process to an updated structural change.

Health Insurance concerns were raised with the goal to keep the pensioners in the GEM scheme. It was not known if Dow in Switzerland was a member of the GEM group. The ad-hoc group suggested a potential solution in the event of any change might be to consider the large group of pensioners in DISA as a separate entity in its own right in the GEM.

Newsletter 57 – Jan-Feb 2016

Greetings from your ad-hoc group.

A preliminary meeting was held 21.01.16 in view the unavailability of the full ad-hoc group. Present were Pierre Chaigneau, Georges Darrer, Denis Hill, Ed Peter and Peter Taylor.

Our purpose was to review the developments of the sweeping management changes at E.I.DuPont de Nemours and the announcement of a merger with The Dow Chemical Company followed by dismemberment of the new Company into three separate entities. It is not clear at this point which DuPont businesses would be in what entity.

The bottom line appears to be that the 200 year-old DuPont we worked for and trusted, that provided for many inventions, industrial or consumer products and valued brands is in an accelerating dissolution phase. Current employees are already losing their jobs across the globe.

The good news, if you will, is that in this terrible storm, retirees under the umbrella of the “Fondation de prévoyance en faveur du personnel de Du Pont de Nemours International S.A.” are relatively assured of the acquired pension rights by Swiss and Genève laws, as stated in its Statutes and the decree of September 1st 1986 by the State and based on Swiss Federal law. Accordingly, the acquired rights of the beneficiaries are protected and the capital of the foundation and all ulterior contributions are irrevocably the foundation’s and cannot be returned to the founding company or used for anything else than the benefit of the retirees.

Any changes of the statutes must be approved by the “Autorité de Surveillance des Fondations” of Geneva. And this is the weak spot that we must monitor, back up and cultivate. In order to do this we should form an association to give more weight, focus and credibility to any intervention in defence of our rights. Possibly for also interfacing Cantonal and Federal authorities as well as other influential lobbies.

Your comments are welcome on (y)our web site www.xdisaweb.ch., particularly if you agree to participate in such an association.

A meeting with DISA management is scheduled for end February. Let us have any issues, comments or questions we should bring up with them.

Wishing you a better 2016 than was 2015. Stay alive and safe!

Your ad-hoc group.

[wr_contactform id=894]

 

 

 

The state of our Pension fund – October 2015

The DISA Pension Fund board sent to all pensioners and survivors a full report that details the financial situation overview; 2014 accounts summarized; history of DuPont’s exceptional contributions since 2005; summary of the evolution and events in 2014 and early 2015; condensed information about the partial liquidation, subsequent to the move of 80 people to CHEMOURS on 31.07.15 (ex-DD Performance Chemicals) and relevant consequences to our fund.

The report addresses the most important concerns discussed by delegates from your ad-hoc team with DISA and Fund management. We are of the opinion that this annual report from the DISA Pension fund shows a reassuring outlook regarding performance of the fund and its overall management. Notable facts are:

• The investment performance. The results for 2014 were very good. This is due in part to the fact that the DISA Pension fund employs professional help to guide these investments, which are made in accordance with Swiss law aimed at preserving and growing the fund without taking high risks. Because of the proportion of investment in financial instruments (shares and bonds), a special provision is set up to buffer any sudden changes in value.

• Discount rate ( Technical Interest Rate). The discount rate is the interest rate used to calculate the value of the required reserves to pay our pensions. A high rate, as was used in the past, reduces the amount needed but requires a steady and high investment performance, with the risk of reduced coverage. The company has set about reducing the discount rate over the last few years and a new step was taken at the end of 2014, bringing the rate to 3%. When this is done, it means that the fund has to increase its reserves, in this case to the tune of 48.8 million. This was funded by the revenue from investments. The plan is to continue reducing the discount rate in the future, whenever funds as available to do so, with a target of 2.5% or 2%.

• Pension fund coverage. The coverage rate, after lowering the discount rate, at the end of 2014 was 109.9%. This has been achieved in part due to good investment results but also by a DuPont decision to achieve this goal with substantial cash input over the last 9 years. A total of 203 million CHF have been contributed unilaterally by DuPont over that period, to fund the reduction of the discount rate from 5% in 2005 to the present 3% and to maintain the coverage percentage at or above 100%. The cash injection was a 10-year project. An assessment of whether to launch another similar project is ongoing.

• Status of the fund. Since 2013 the DISA Pension has been split into two entities. One to serve pensions to employees that worked with DISA up to and including July 2012, which is that part that covers our pensions and a new fund that covers new employees from that same date. Our fund is therefore a “closed fund” which is fed by active employees hired before July 2012 and the fund’s capital.

• The Chemours split. A group of DuPont businesses, aggregated under the name of Chemours, were spun off in 2015 worldwide. In DISA this represented 80 employees that had to change employer and thus leave our fund, taking with them their accumulated personal reserves. This is similar to what happened in 2012 when the paint business was sold. The partial liquidation of the fund has no effect on the rights and reserves of the remaining beneficiaries.

• Participants and Pensioners. As at end December 2014 there were 579 participants and 865 beneficiaries. With the departure of the Chemours employees in July 2015, the participants therefore fell to below 500.

• TPG/RAP program. This program covering the special arrangements of those of us who had service in multiple subsidiaries is covered by specific annual contributions by DISA to the fund.

Sorry for the delay

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi everybody. I recently tried, without success, to reach Mme Duvernay who has been, for several years, the Aon Hewitt’s contact for DuPont pension matters. It has taken me more than I expected, but here is what I found out:

a) the new person in charge for us is Mme Anna Protasenia

b) all communications have to go through the Aon Hewitt’s portal: – phone 022 717 6006 Mon to Fri 13.30 – 16.30 – e-mail disapensionfund@aonhewitt.com

regards

Marco

Theo Bakker and his wife Nesta have decided to leave Geneva for a yet undetermined location. On August 26, some members of the Ad.Hoc team met with Theo for a farewell lunch. Theo subsequently sent us the following message which we would like to share with you all. Hello All, I would like to thank you for the nice farewell lunch you offered me, and the nice words and wishes. I am glad I could make some contribution to fulfilling the objectives of our team in the last few years, continuing the efforts of the initial members. It is encouraging that you want to continue this task, knowing that we can expect limited results, however, I am of the same opinion as you are that there is no other option then to keep the dialogue with our ex-employer open to ensure that the pensioners are not forgotten, nor the promises the company once made to us. I wish you all success and want to thank you for the purposeful cooperation and good times we had together. Please call on me if I can be of help. All the best to all of you. Theo. We wish them a long a happy future in their new surroundings. The Ad-Hoc team

Greetings from your ad-hoc group.

We just added a Flash report to the site (No. 55) ans well as the minutes of our last meeting with DISA in June. You can access the Flash report under the FLASH REPORT tab and the minutes under the USEFUL INFORMATION tab.

Regards to all

Merci pour ce site qui j’espère va se développer, car jusqu’à présent c’était le vide complet pour les anciens employés! Je pense que la seule communication venant d’une lettre de Aon Hewitt en Octobre, n’a pas dû toucher beaucoup de monde. Eliane Mooser

Merci pour ce site qui j’espère va se développer, car jusqu’à présent c’était le vide complet pour les anciens employés! Je pense que la seule communication venant d’une lettre de Aon Hewitt en Octobre, n’a pas dû toucher beaucoup de monde. Eliane Mooser