MAN, a subsidiary of the German carmaker Volkswagen, has transfered the pensions of its approximately 22,000 employees worth around €619m to Willis Towers Watson’s own Pensionfonds.
Horst Grögler, head of pension asset management at MAN, said it decided to transfer its pension fund because “the regulatory requirements have increased significantly in recent years”.
MAN will continue to have a say on the pension fund investments, a statement announced, adding that despite the recent contract, WTW has been the fund’s consultant since its foundation in 2007.
Michael Karst, director legal, tax and accounting at Willis Towers Watson Germany, told IPE that “there are some other pension funds in the market that could join the (WTW) scheme as MAN did”.
He said the current trend has been to “fund direct pension promises or support fund promises of defined benefit plans to Pensionsfonds to optimize and derisk the financial structure of their existing occupational pension schemes.”
WTW has taken control over a number of pension schemes in the last year, making its Willis Towers Watson Pensionsfonds worth more than €4.5bn in assets.
It supports more than 2,000 companies in Germany, making it one of the five largest in Germany.
Heinke Conrads, head of retirement Germany and Austria at WTW, said: “We have built up extensive and in-depth expertise in all questions relating to occupational pension schemes. Therefore, we can realize economies of scale and quality for our customers.”
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