The German government will start discussing the reform of the third pillar pension system in a so-called focus group (Fokusgruppe) with academics, associations and social partners on 24 January, IPE has learnt.
The focus group, under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance (BMF), includes members of the ministry for labour and social affairs and the ministry for economic affairs, the insurance association GDV, the Investment Funds Association (BVI), the occupational pensions association aba, the Confederation of Employers’ Associations (BDA), trade union Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB), the Federation of Consumer Organisations (vzbv), Stiftung Warentest and academics.
It will meet for the first time on 24 January, a spokesperson for the finance ministry confirmed to IPE, adding that on the agenda for the first meeting is an overview of private old-age provision in Germany and ideas for improving existing Riester pension schemes (Riester-Bestand).
In the next meetings, the focus group will examine the plans in the electoral programme for the traffic-light coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Liberal Party (FDP), that had proposed to set up a public fund to offer private pension products with an opting-out option, the legal recognition of private products with higher returns than Riester-Rente to reform the third pillar, and it will also discuss incentives in the form of funding for low-earners to take advantage of these products, the spokesperson added.
With the focus group, the government intends to assess the possibility of strengthening the third pillar pension system through new products delivering a better performance, finance minister Christian Lindner said last week during a town hall meeting to introduce the first pillar pension reform.
The government will pursue ways to make private old age provisions “more attractive” than the Rürup and Riester-Rente’s returns, he added.
The focus group will discuss models to reinforce the capital market component in the third pillar, for example establishing a special savings account with tax benefits in the payout phase on returns achieved, or a new public pension product with an obligation to contribute but with the possibility of opting out, the minister added.
The Investment Funds Association BVI is proposing to legally recognise funds-saving plans as a pension product and to facilitate them with tax incentives on returns in the pay-out phase to reform the third pillar pension system.
The fund savings account would be offered for plans for old-age provisions with a minimum term of up to the age of 60.
BVI is also asking to reduce the guarantee on the Riester-Rente, for example offering products that do not carry full guarantee on contributions paid, or where the individual can choose the level of guarantee.
The focus group participants have different ideas on the public fund. BVI opposes to the establishment of a public fund for the third pillar pension system because the intervention of the state in the private market can have a distorting effect.
The state is already active in the first pillar with a funded pension through the Aktienrente and the Generationenkapital concept, it added.
The state should create the framework condition to market pension products in the third pillar and not actively provide the products, according to BVI.
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