Governance

Achmea Real Estate is a Dutch asset manager specialising in investing in direct and indirect real estate for the account and risk of third parties. The activities of Syntrus Achmea Verzekeringsdiensten bv mainly consist of advising and mediating in commercial non-life insurance.

Achmea Real Estate has a supervisory board and is subject to external supervision by De Nederlandsche Bank and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. Among other things, the supervisory directors ensure that the interests of all parties involved in Achmea Real Estate are considered in a balanced way. As a committee of the Supervisory Board, the Audit & Risk Committee is charged with the supervision of risk management and internal control. This committee also assesses whether sufficient resources and attention are devoted to an effective and efficient system of risk management. The committee meets at least four times a year and reports to the supervisory board.

Code of conduct

Achmea wants to lead the way with its code of conduct, but also by anticipating existing and new regulations. For example, Achmea has chosen to have all its employees take the financial sector oath or pledge, as this fits Achmea's identity. Actively managing integrity promotion, preventing integrity violations and fraud control limit the negative consequences for trust, returns, and the cost of claims. Achmea has therefore drawn up a code of conduct for acting with integrity according to Achmea values and standards. The Achmea code of conduct can be found here.

Three lines of defence

Achmea Real Estate has set up a framework for managing risks to ensure the quality of services provided to its clients. The scope of the risk management framework covers all risk categories (strategic, financial, operational and compliance). It is aligned with the Coso Enterprise Risk Management Framework. The risk management system is evaluated annually based on internal and external developments.

The organisational structure and culture set the tone and direction of the organisation. Responsibilities are assigned and oversight set up, enabling risk management to take place. The culture of the organisation is determined by the norms and values the organisation stands for. The culture drives the desired behaviour and feeds the organisation's risk awareness. Achmea Real Estate's risk governance is set up according to the Three Lines of Defence model.

First line

The starting point of the Three Lines of Defence model is that line management (the business) is responsible for its processes. The first line is primarily responsible for managing the risks within Achmea Real Estate. This means that in daily decision-making and in the execution of processes, the first line is responsible for implementing and recording risk control measures. To set this up properly, the first line has risk officers.

Second line

The second line supports, advises, coordinates and ensures that the first line actually fulfils its responsibilities. The Risk Management and Compliance functions together form Achmea Real Estate's independent second line. The Risk Management and Compliance functions are responsible for setting risk policy frameworks and reviewing risk management within the first line. Furthermore, the second line has the task of increasing risk awareness within Achmea Real Estate.

Third line

The third line consists of Achmea's internal audit department. Internal Audit Achmea reports to Achmea's CRO and is therefore independent of Achmea Real Estate's management. Internal Audit Achmea thus independently monitors the effectiveness of internal control within Achmea Real Estate.

Customer Due Diligence

Achmea Real Estate helps prevent money laundering, fraud and terrorist financing. We are focused on operating with integrity and want to avoid doing business with fraudulent and criminal parties. To know with whom we do business, we conduct Customer Due Diligence (CDD) investigations.

Based on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act (Wwft), we identify all our business relationships, verify the identity and periodically investigate the business relationship, the Know Your Customer principle. To conduct this investigation, we may request certain information and documents.

Depending on the nature of the business relationship and the type of business, these may include the following documents:

Completed Declaration of Final Interests, also known as Ultimate Benificiary Owners or UBOs. Download a UBO declaration here.
A copy of the proof of identity of the beneficial owners designated in the UBO declaration. Make sure you provide this securely, by covering or crossing out the citizen service number and passport photograph.
A recent (no older than 12 months) organogram of the organisation's ownership and control structure signed by an authorised person within the organisation. Click here for an example of an organogram.
A copy of the last amendment to the articles of association and the continuous text.
A partnership agreement, list of partners or limited partners entitled to ten per cent or more of the organisation's profits.
A signed and dated copy from the register of shareholders showing who the current shareholders are.

We handle our clients' data with care. Provided data is used only for this purpose.

Would you like to know more about the processing of your data or what your rights are? Then read the privacy statement on our website.

For questions or more information, please contact your contact person at Achmea Real Estate.