GERMANY - The Pensionsfonds established by Germany's largest multi-employer Pensionskasse BVV saw the level of contributions almost triple over the last year due to more banks outsourcing their liabilities.
In 2008, the Pensionskasse for the banking industry launched another retirement vehicle, a Pensionsfonds that saw asset inflows of €38m by year-end 2009 from various banks.
For last year, the BVV reported an increase of volume in its Pensionsfonds to more than €100m.
The fund, which is fully covered by the BVV Pensionskasse, does not have a separate asset pool, but the figure shows the cumulated transfers by companies since inception.
Most recently, the Delbrück Bethmann Maffei private bank, part of the ABN AMRO Group, transferred "the majority of its pension liabilities" to the BVV Pensionsfonds as at January 2011.
In a BVV press release, Horst Schmidt, chairman of the board at the private bank, said: "Outsourcing brings even more safety to our employees' retirement provision."
According to the BVV, this proves a "continuation of the trend of outsourcing liabilities" from companies' books.
Helmut Aden, board member at the BVV, said: "Improving key company data and a standardisation of retirement structures are the main reasons for outsourcing pension liabilities."
He added that outsourcing also helped companies save costs on administration.
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