The chairman of the giant Dutch pension fund ABP, one of Europe's biggest investors, has resigned after months of pressure and revelations about his previous role on the board of a collapsed domestic savings bank.

Ed Nijpels, a former politician and Queen's Commissioner, or governor, of the Friesland province of the Netherlands, took up the role of president of ABP's governing board in August last year. He was also a non-executive director at the DSB bank, a role he had held since 2004.