SV Pensionsfonds, the pension vehicle of SV SparkassenVersicherung, has taken over €900m in liabilities from Hamburger Sparkasse (Haspa).
Haspa, Germany’s largest savings bank with €57bn in assets, has transferred all accrued liabilities from existing company pension promises off its balance sheet to the Pensionsfonds as part of a de-risking transaction.
SV Pensionsfonds will assume responsibility for administration and asset allocation to meet pension obligations over the long term.
The operational management of retirees’ savings has been outsourced to Heubeck pen@min, a subsidiary of actuarial consultancy Heubeck specialising in occupational pension administration, and to WTW, according to the Pensionsfonds’ financial statement.
SV SparkassenVersicherung recently acquired a stake in Heubeck pen@min through its pension consultancy arm as part of efforts to expand in the occupational pensions market.
Following the transaction, assets under management at SV Pensionsfonds have increased to approximately €1.5bn.
“By taking over these pension liabilities, we are consistently pursuing our growth strategy, and at the same time contributing to the sustainable stabilisation of retirement provisions,” said Andreas Jahn, chief executive officer of SV SparkassenVersicherung.
SV Pensionsfonds said the deal reflects an ongoing trend of companies transferring pension liabilities to specialised vehicles to strengthen balance sheets and improve financial stability.
However, recent data from BaFin indicate a cooling in the German Pensionsfonds market.
Assets under management rose only marginally year-on-year in 2024 to €60.6bn, up from €59bn in 2023, and still below the peak of €61.4bn recorded in 2021.
Gross contributions declined for the fourth consecutive year in 2024 to €1.7bn, from €3.6bn in 2023 and €7.4bn in 2020.
According to Mercer, interest in Pensionsfonds has structurally weakened compared with the low-interest-rate environment of the late 2010s and early 2020s.
Bernhard Holwegler, team leader for pension funding consulting at Mercer Germany, said transfers are expected to continue, but at a lower pace than during that period.
