LUXEMBOURG – German industrial group Siemens has launched an international pensions plan for its Luxembourg based employees.

The plan will be structured as a pensions savings association, known as an Assep. This is one of two vehicles which Luxembourg created in 1999 in anticipation of the development of the pan-European pensions market.

The other is a pensions savings company with variable capital, or Sepcav. A further vehicle supervised by the Commissariat Aus Assurances (CAA) was added in 2001

The new Assep, Fonds de Pension du Group Siemens a Luxembourg, will cover the Siemens group’s 350 employees in Luxembourg. Siemens Luxembourg comprises four companies: Siemens, Siemens Business Services, Siemens Building Technologies and Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

No-one was currently available at Siemens Luxembourg headquarters in Hamm to provide details of the plan. However, one of the attractions of the Assep option is that it can be used for both defined benefit and defined contribution type plans. A Sepcav can be used only for DC plans.

Also, since it is an international pensions plan, it can be extended if necessary to Siemens’ employees in other countries.

The Siemens Assep is the ninth of Luxembourg’s international pension fund vehicles, and fifth Assep, to be launched since 1999. Two Asseps were launched in January this year for the Luxembourg employees of, respectively, Clearstream International and the HVB banking group.

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