APG Group, the giant Dutch pension manager, said on Monday it will slash 20% of its workforce in the coming years, evidence of the challenges facing the Netherlands' widely praised pension system.

APG, one of Europe's largest institutional investors with €314bn ($409bn) in assets, said it would scrap 800 jobs in the next four years from a workforce of 4,000, mostly management, administrative and information technology positions. It said it wants to bring down costs by integrating some business units and noted that the Dutch pension sector continues to face "difficult times."