According to Towers Watson, Germany's pension protection fund helped the country's Pensionsfonds avoid posting a deficit in the quantitative impact study (QIS) for the revised IORP Directive, but technical reserves still soared by 50 per cent for some schemes.
Head of Towers Watson actuarial consulting, Alf Gohdes, revealed details of the QIS's impact on Pensionskassen and Pensionsfonds. He said he was optimistic the European Commission would eventually abandon the idea of applying Solvency II-type rules to IORPs. The actuary noted that Germany was "not alone" in struggling with a major hike in technical reserves under the new solvency rules, as they had also soared in Belgium (27 per cent), Ireland (72 per cent), the Netherlands (24 per cent) and the UK (40 per cent), and by "around €900 billion in total". However, he also acknowledged the need for "some form of unified model" for supervision, as well as a risk-based approach that would include pension protection schemes and sponsor support in some capacity.
In a first reading, the German Parliament agreed to allow lump-sum payments from Pensionsfonds on retirement – something that had been allowed in all other pension vehicles but Pensionsfonds.
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