GERMANY - Life insurer LV 1871 has named Martin Großmann, the former head of Chemie Pensionsfonds, as one of two managing directors for its new corporate pension fund in Liechtenstein.

Großmann, 48, left Chemie Pensionsfonds in May 2006 to join a LV 1871 subsidiary and assist in the creation of LV 1871's new scheme in Liechtenstein. He was succeeded at Chemie, a €95m chemical pension fund owned by German bank HVB, by Heike Pohl.

The other managing director at LV 1871's Liechtenstein scheme is Wolfgang Reichel. Reichel, 39, was formerly a director of capital markets at the Munich-based insurer, which at the end of 2005 had €3bn in assets.

Großmann's appointment as managing director of the scheme comes just days after its official launch. According to him, the scheme will compete directly with other German Pensionsfonds for pension business from that market.

Pensionsfonds - Germany's answer to the Anglo-Saxon pension fund - were created in 2002 Among those launched by German banks and insurers, Deutscher Pensionsfonds, a joint venture between Deutsche Asset Management and Swiss insurer Zurich, is the biggest with well more than €500m in assets.

By 2010, LV 1871's Liechtenstein scheme hopes to take in €50m in assets. "If we manage to take in €40m, we'll be just as happy," said Großmann.

Großmann noted that the scheme was not as tightly regulated as those in Germany. "An example is a requirement by the German government that if a Pensionsfonds is 5% underfunded, the employer must immediately fund that gap," he told IPE.

"In Liechstenstein, which simply implemented the EU pension fund directive of 2005 and did not tack on any additional rules, there is no quantitative requirement. Instead there is a qualitative requirement, meaning, for example, that a Pensionsfonds must unveil a plan detailing how the deficit will be closed," he added.

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