For life insurers, a pension compliance program such as Belgium's SIGEDIS eats up IT resources needed for strateguic initiatives. By applying the right solution levers, such as optimization, automation and reduction of redundancy, pension providers can gain potent strategic advantages.

1. Belgium’s SIGEDIS Compliance Program:
Doing It the Smart Way
Pension providers must seek efficient solutions for compliance to
save costs and free up resources to pursue strategic initiatives.
Executive Summary
To bring in transparency and protect the rights
of the insured, the Belgian government created a
legal body, SIGEDIS, to regulate employer-funded
pensions. Typically, SIGEDIS mandates change on
compliance declarations on a yearly milestone
basis. All pension providers have to submit
mandated declarations to SIGEDIS, for which they
undertake multiyear legal IT projects to create
the declarations.
The life insurance business is shrinking globally,
and insurance companies face tremendous
pressure to reduce costs and invest more on
strategic initiatives to increase revenue. A
multiyear compliancy program such as SIGEDIS
consumes most of the IT budget, leaving little for
strategic initiatives.
This white paper focuses on efficient ways to
manage compliance so as to achieve a balance
between legacy and strategic initiatives. With an
efficient solution, and effective use of solution
accelerators, a 20% to 30% reduction in IT cost is
possible for a SIGEDIS compliance program.
Introduction to SIGEDIS
Sociale Individuele Gegevens-Données Individu-
elles Sociales (SIGEDIS) is a legal body to regulate
pension providers for second pillar pensions
and bring transparency in the corresponding
pension benefit statements sent to employees. It
mandates that pension providers submit various
types of information to prove compliance and to
feed in information to the database used to create
the employee pension benefit statements. This
translates to a large-scale IT program for pension
providers to manage the data.
The Belgian pension system is based on three
pillars. The first pillar is the state pension financed
by social security contributions and managed
by public bodies. The second pillar comprises
supplementary pensions provided by employers
or “sectors” to their employees. The third pillar
includes the additional pension programs that
individuals can sign up for on their own. The
state pension tends to be insufficient for indi-
viduals’ post-retirement needs. This has made
the second pillar popular; the tax benefit it offers
has made it even more attractive. Typically, it is
part of the employee’s remuneration package.
Before SIGEDIS came into effect, it was difficult
to retrieve a pension benefit statement for an
employee since there was no centralized view.
Employees would get multiple statements and
found it difficult to assess their overall pension
benefits (see Figure 1, next page).
cognizant 20-20 insights | march 2017
• Cognizant 20-20 Insights

2. cognizant 20-20 insights 2
The Belgian government decided to create a supplementary pensions database in 2006 to collect
information within Belgium and overseas for salaried employees, self-employed individuals and civil
servants. The supplementary pensions database (DB2P) became operational on Jan. 1, 2011, with the
aim of overseeing the tax and social security legislation on the second pillar. The database enables a
consolidated view of an individual’s pension and can be used to verify compliance with laws such as the
Loi sur les pensions complémentaires (LPC), Loi sur les pensions complémentaires pour indépendants
(LPCI) or the 80% rule. It also brings transparency to supplementary pensions, providing a consolidated
view of pension status via the www.mypension.be portal. Supplementary pensions are very important in
the European context given the aging population. The database also provides accurate statistics on the
second pillar, allowing individuals to better manage their post-retirement financial planning.
Pension Benefit Statement Scenario Pre-SIGEDIS
Figure 1
Benefit Statement
Benefit Statement
?
?
Benefit Statement
Benefit Statement
Benefit Statement
Benefit Statement
?
?
Benefit Statement
Benefit Statement
Benefit Statement
Benefit Statement
Source: www.sigedis.be
Pension Benefit Statement Scenario Post-SIGEDIS
Figure 2
Benefit Statement
State Finance
Source: www.sigedis.be

3. cognizant 20-20 insights 3
A nonprofit organization, SIGEDIS was mandated to receive declarations from all second pillar pension
providers to maintain the DB2P. These declarations include the type of pension commitment (group
insurance, sector plan, etc.), the premiums paid by the employer, the pension fees of the insured, etc.
There are several events that can trigger SIGEDIS declarations (see Figure 4).
For all the events listed in the figure, declarations need to be sent to SIGEDIS. Insurance companies that
offer second pillar pensions therefore need to adapt their IT applications to capture these events and
then create corresponding declarations for SIGEDIS.
Overview of SIGEDIS and DB2P
Figure 3
SIGEDIS & Account State Declaration
SIGEDIS
Sociale Individuele Gegevens
Données Individuelles Sociales
• Stores social data of individuals and ensures that public
institutions can use this data.
• Electronic archiving of employment agreement and
document.
• Has maintained DB2P since 2011.
• Provides statistical artifact for planning and decision-making.
• Employers and companies can consult their data.
• Better control and transparency of supplementary
pension/retirement benefits.
• Since 2016, beneficiaries can view their supplementary
pension data.
DB2P
Data Bank for 2nd
Pillar
Source: www.sigedis.be
SIGEDIS Declaration Events
Figure 4
Declarations Events
Create New Group Insurance
Modify Group Insurance
Renewal of Insured
Departure of Insured
Out-Transfer of Insured
Out-Transfer of Employer
In-Transfer of Insured
In-Transfer of Employer
Employer Premium Contribution
Insuree Premium Contribution
Source: www.sigedis.be

4. cognizant 20-20 insights 4
Regulation
Declaration
File Exchange History
Pension Providers SIGEDIS
Create Regulation Business Process
Create New
Regulation
Errors
Information
Extractions
Data
Validation
Declaration
Generation
Refusal
Validations
File
Traceability
File
Security
Declaration
Expedition
Regulation
Employer
Employer
Agreement
Regulation
Document
Instauration
Procedure
How a Declaration Works
Figure 5
Figure 6 provides an overview of the interactions between different parties involved in a SIGEDIS decla-
ration. It is a complex compliance project that demands deep domain understanding.
Social
Security
Administration
Brokers
FSMA
Fed. Admin
Finance
Dormant(s)Employer
Rel. Employers Relation Insured
Unions
Company
Operations
Pension Institutions
Insured
Transferred
Consultation of DB2P www.mypension.be
SIGEDISONPONSS INASTIINAMI
DB2P
Interactions Between Different Parties Involved in a SIGEDIS Declaration
Figure 6
See Figure 5 for an illustration of how a typical declaration works.

5. cognizant 20-20 insights 5
Several applicable laws, and the different types of pension, further complicate the calculation of amounts
to be submitted to SIGEDIS (see Figure 7).
Different Types of Pension Contributions
Pension System with SIGEDIS Applicability
Figure 7
Legal Pension
Statutory
Public Private Independents
80% Rule
Contractors Salaried Business Head
CXO
Physical
Person
Group
Pension Plan
Sectoral
Pension Plan
Sectoral
Pension Plan
Legal Pension
Legal PensionLegal Pension
Legal Pension
Group
Pension Plan
Group
Pension Plan
Individual
Pension Plan (EIP)
Individual
Pension Plan (EIP)
Enterprise
Pension (ADE)
Individual
Pension Plan (EIP) Complementary
Individual Pension
Saving (PLCI)
Complementary
Individual Pension
Saving (PLCI)
This requires a complex multiyear IT program to create declarations on key information related to
second pillar pensions.
Key Challenges
To comply with SIGEDIS directives, pension providers must send pension-related information in a specific
format, and follow a specific schedule. However, there are several challenges for such a large-scale legal
IT program:
• Compliance while keeping costs low: Given the slowing growth in the life insurance business, organi-
zations have to rein in operating expenditures and invest in strategic initiatives to accelerate growth.
Adherence to SIGEDIS eats into the budget for strategic initiatives.
• Compliance skillsets and localization: Since this compliancy program is limited to Belgium, there are
few experts available to support the initiative. Multiyear programs such as SIGEDIS need a dedicated
pool of IT experts (business analysts, system analysts, developers, test analysts, project managers,
architects, etc.) to retain knowledge and support implementation.
• Flexibility to adapt legacy mainframe applications: Most of the adaptations for SIGEDIS programs
need to be managed in legacy IT mainframe applications that are not built to support these require-
ments. A deep understanding of the IT application landscape is needed to identify and implement
complex changes within limited budgets and strict timelines. Requirements from SIGEDIS arrive
iteratively, and the final declaration contains sensitive financial information such as premiums, tax,
reserve, etc. This demands several rounds of verification and corrections internally before the data
can be sent.

6. cognizant 20-20 insights 6
A Proposed Approach
Given the time constraints of the regulations, the solution requires a rigid delivery model, in which the
pension providers and their partners work closely and have a clear understanding of each other’s roles
and responsibilities.
A Proposed Approach to SIGEDIS Compliance
Figure 8
Objectives ApproachKey Success Factors
• Be compliant with the
SIGEDIS regulations
for life ins. domain.
• Manage the workload
in an efficient and
cost-effective way.
• Independent
ownership of E2E
model by leveraging &
increasing SIGEDIS
knowledge.
• Deep collaboration
with business to
ensure complete
coverage.
• A proven delivery
approach based on prior
experience in other life
ins. engagements.
• Iterative
implementation.
• Leverage in-house tools
and accelerators
wherever possible.
• An efficient yet
cost-effective approach.
Performing
Up in
‘V-Model’
Strong
Knowledge
Management
Robust
Impact
Analysis,
Change
Management
Proven
Track
Record on
SIGEDIS for
Five Years
Prior
Experience
of Managing
E2E
Local
Profile
Key Elements of the Proposed Solution
Figure 9
1 2 3 4 5
Compliant with Lower Cost
By giving E2E responsibility,
cost will reduce drastically
(~30%) without compromis-
ing on quality.
Localization
Local language speaking
profile to better engage with
business stakeholder and
bridge the gap on Belgian
context.
Knowledge Management
Wiki-based KMDB framework to retain
and nurture knowledge. On-boarding
and induction knowledge transfer
package to have smooth, quick
on-boarding to manage peak workloads.
Specialized Compliancy Skillset
Localization complemented by
strong core delivery team at
offshore will enable a dual
mandate to get Belgian context
and optimizations. Wiki-based
KMDB will support knowledge
retention.
Complexity of Adapting Legacy
Strong technical expertise at
core team supported by
technology CoE will enable a
robust Impact analysis and
change management.
• SLA based
quality
Service.
• 20-30% less
cost.
With effective deployment of solution levers with a global partner, up to 30% cost savings can be realized
as compared with doing everything in house. Figure 10 (next page) provides an illustration.

7. cognizant 20-20 insights 7
Illustration of Savings
Business Case
Annual Workload Distribution Annual Cost Comparision
Global Delivery Partner - Effort Distribution Efficient Operating Model for SIGEDIS Program
Illustrative Example on Cost Savings
Figure 10
√ Assumptions: Annual Workload of 3,000 days.
√ Target operating model with global partner with a mix of local
profiles for crucial roles like business analyst where language
and local Belgian context is mandatory and onsite/offshore
profiles to have efficient yet cost-effective solutions.
√ Core delivery engine will be managed offshore or near-shore to
provide cost arbitrage.
√ Model is customizable.
Business Analysts
System Analysts
Developers
Testers
Project Management
Local
Onsite
Offshore
600; 20%
600; 20%
1665; 56%
630; 21%
705; 23%
900; 30%
450; 15%
450; 15%
-30%
Project
Management
Testers
Developers
System Analysts
Business Analysts
100.000 € 400.000 € 700.000 €
Global Partner (including VAT) AS-IS
After successful deployment of the solution levers, more savings can be realized by focusing on further
improvements.
The Way Ahead
After achieving compliance with SIGEDIS directives, further improvements can be realized by investing
in automation, optimization and removal of redundancies. Automation of the test suite or a new way of
working with the Lean model will make the IT program even more efficient.
Future Improvements
Figure 11
Source: Cognizant
Automation
Optimization
Optimization of Team, Process,
Technology
Optimization and continuous improve-
ment on team structure, mix,
onshore/offshore mix, process and
technology to gain further benefit to
reduce costs.
Remove Wastage
Remove the process
steps that do not add
value or are
redundant to
optimize the cost.
Automations to Improve
Quality and Reduce Cost
• Automations of
regression suite.
• Automations of ST & UAT
suite.
• Automations of manual
processes.
Remove
Redundancy
Pension organizations can also consider a global delivery model by ceding end-to-end ownership of the
SIGEDIS program to a partner. This will enable the core internal team to focus on strategic initiatives
while saving costs.

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About the Author
Sanjib Goswami is a Manager within Cognizant’s Continental Europe Insurance business unit. He has
more than 12 years of experience in life insurance software development and global services. Sanjib has
been working for a leading European insurance customer for more than eight years on life insurance
product management, product business support, business transformation and IT strategy. He holds
an engineering degree from Jadavpur University, India. Sanjib can be reached at Sanjib.Goswami@
cognizant.com.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank Martin Havelka, Senior Manager – Consulting at Cognizant, for his support
and guidance.
References
• www.sigedis.be
• www.socialsecurity.be
• www.db2p.be
• www.eb-connect.be
• mypension.onprvp.fgov.be
• www.assuralia.be
• www.fsma.be