German regional bank Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (Nord LB) has outsourced pensions provision for new employees joining after 1 January 2014 to the BVV, the Pensionskasse for the financial sector.

In a statement, Helmut Aden, a board member at the €24.7bn BVV, said: “Increasing requirements mean more and more companies will take the step to outsource their company pension schemes to competent external partners in order to be able to focus on their core business.”

Since the onset of the financial crisis, a number of German regional banks – known as Landesbanken – have sold parts of their companies, including real estate portfolios, to narrow their scope of business.

Nord LB has a balance sheet total of €205bn and currently employs around 7,500 people, with offices in Germany, the UK, Singapore and the US.

The BVV already has several regional banks among its members, including Bayern LB, West LB and HSH Nordbank.

Among the other members of the Pensionskasse are 95% of all German private banks, as well as other financial service providers.

Meanwhile, the BVV confirmed to IPE that new global real estate mandates set up last year are “in the starting phase”.

A spokeswoman at the scheme said: “The first investments were made in the Asia Pacific region, as well as Europe, with a total volume of €200m.”

Further investments are currently under consideration, she said.