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The ECON Committee of the European Parliament has now put forward an amended draft of the regulation that could include most of the occupational pension vehicles after all – particularly in Germany – according to Klaus Stiefermann, managing director at the aba. He said the new proposal “shocked and surprised” many in the industry, as “nobody thought to track the PRIPs negotiations any further, especially as the EMPL committee (dealing with the occupational pension sector) was not involved".
In the new draft of the proposed regulation, occupational pension schemes and individual pension products are only excluded provided that a “financial contribution from the employer is required by national law and where the employer or employee has no choice as to the pension product or provider". According to the aba’s interpretation, this would include all German occupational pension plans, as contributions are neither mandatory nor are employers limited in their choice of provider.
Should the proposal go through without alteration, some pension funds would have to draw up KID similar to the ones given to private investors when buying a retail investment product.
German Green MP Sven Giegold – also a founding member of consumer lobby group Finance Watch, which aims to improve the regulation of financial products – is responsible for bringing the amendments forward. While the aba said it was unopposed to additional reporting requirements or member information, it argued that the inclusion of KID-type requirements in the PRIPS regulation “made no sense".
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KID-report, 6.11.13