The pension provider for the German financial sector, BVV, has taken over the pension obligations of Barclaycard, Barclays Bank’s credit card business branch in Hamburg.

Barclaycard outsourced its pension liabilities by depositing the assets of employees entitled to benefits into the BVV Pensionsfonds.

The transfer took place on 1 January, BVV said, adding that its Versorgungskasse and Pensionskasse will be used in the future for pension claims, including those of new members.

“It is impossible to imagine improving company pension schemes today without Pensionsfonds”, said Marco Herrmann, member of the BVV board.

He added: “Employers can offer attractive pensions for all target groups within the company, and at the same time reduce burdens, only by combining different ways to run occupational pensions.”

Swedish banking group SEB also was among the financial institutions outsourcing its German defined benefit (DB) pension assets to BVV.

BVV has seen assets worth around €1bn outsourced to its Pensionsfonds since 2008, it said.

“Employee benefits and, in particular, company pension schemes play a key role for us as an employer,” said Sybille Magarin, head of human resources at Barclays Germany, Netherlands and Sweden.

She added that the bank has chosen BVV for the “flexibility” that allows Barclays to combine different occupational pension arrangements within an operational architecture.

BVV manages assets worth over €30bn, with 354,000 insured and 121,000 retirees from the financial sector.

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