CEO Gerjan de Lange on Brand New Day’s next growth phase

Key takeaways from De Telegraaf’s 20 August 2026 interview with Gerjan de LangeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, CEO of Brand New Day:

• Internal succession and acceleration: De Lange became CEO at the beginning of 2026 after previously leading commercial and ICT activities at Brand New Day. He said there was no need for a radical organisational overhaul, but the company wants to accelerate its growth.
• AI as operating leverage: Brand New Day has developed its own AI assistant, which can remain available outside human support hours and quickly produce calculations. De Lange described AI as a practical tool rather than a miracle solution: human service remains important for more complex matters. The stated ambition is to double the customer base without increasing the number of employees.
• Large individual-pension opportunity: De Lange estimates that the Dutch workforce numbers around 10 million people, while only a small proportion hold an individual pension product. He sees the Wet toekomst pensioenen as increasing public awareness and expanding the fiscal room available for contributions to individual pension accounts.
• Box 3 as a second growth driver: In the interview, De Lange said that uncertainty around Box 3 is making people view an individual pension product in Box 1 as a relatively safe haven: contributions can receive tax-advantaged treatment, and invested assets are not subject to Box 3 wealth-return taxation while held in the pension product. He acknowledged that the product is intended for retirement rather than tax optimisation, but expects tax-motivated customers ultimately to use the money for retirement.
• Employer distribution: Employers can offer individual pension accounts alongside, or instead of, a traditional collective scheme. De Lange sees demand from companies that want to provide a meaningful pension benefit without the cost and administration of a collective insurer-led arrangement, while giving employees a stronger sense of ownership.
• Scaling investment: De Lange acknowledged that Brand New Day’s costs are relatively high, describing this as a deliberate consequence of continued investment in growth. The company’s reported ambition is therefore to combine customer satisfaction and direct digital distribution with automation, rather than to pursue growth primarily through headcount reduction.

Brand New Day is positioning its next phase around the combination of pension reform, Box 3-related tax awareness, employer reach and AI-enabled service capacity. The leadership change appears to represent a handover from founder-led market creation to scaling the platform and its distribution.

Read more: De Telegraaf · InFinance · Brand New Day

Image credit: Brand New Day