With the establishment of its own occupational pension fund, the Hamelin-based BHW Group is now also superbly positioned as a private provisioning specialist in the growth market of occupational pensions. Having just received approval from the Federal Financial Services Supervisory Authority (BAFin), BHW Pensionskasse AG will be launching its operations with immediate effect. The focus of activities will be on “salary conversion”, namely the statutory entitlement of all employees to tax-subsidised retirement provision which has been in place since 1 January 2002 in Germany.

As a provisioning specialist, the BHW Group offers a full range of products. The company sees itself as an active promoter of all state-subsidised private and occupational pension products as well as home finance. In the occupational pensions segment, the new BHW Pensionskasse AG completes the existing range of options, i.e. direct insurance, pension funds, provident funds and direct commitments. BHW is one of the few financial services providers to offer a complete range of products in all five sub-segments of occupational pensions.

According to Management Board member Jens Bauer, BHW Pensionskasse AG will be targeting SMEs with a maximum staff complement of 200. Around 50 per cent of the German workforce is employed at SMEs. Given that BHW is one of the consortium members of the pension programme in the metal-producing and electrical industry, Bauer anticipates around 200,000 risks in the next five years from the “Metall” pensions alone. BHW is also involved in the company pension schemes run by dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion and the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund für den öffentlichen Dienst.

The product range of BHW Pensionskasse AG follows the principles of flexibility, security and returns. Low administrative expenditure and an innovative asset management approach will render the best possible returns. Responsible risk management, a fixed minimum interest rate and realistic accounting guidelines guarantee security. A high degree of flexibility will be achieved through the structure and adaptation of the individual products to the customer’s situation.

BHW Pensionskasse AG offers employees and their dependants security through retirement provision. The fund has advantages for employers and employees alike. Employer contributions count as operating expenditure, are therefore completely tax-deductible and have no impact on the balance sheet, since the pension fund is acting as a insuranc company for employees. Employees can utilise various benefits, as they can contribute up to 4 per cent of the state pension income threshold into their pension tax free. For 2003, this figure amounts to € 2,448.

In the occupational pensions market, there are already collective agreements in place for around 19 million employees, to which the statutory entitlement to “salary conversions” applies. Due to the legal framework and current demand, BHW expects a concentration of business in the direct insurance and pension fund sub-segments. According to Jens Bauer, one-to-one advice regarding the most appropriate and least complicated provisioning option is the most important criterion particularly for employers but also for employees. BHW has a specialist sales force for this purpose, while the BHW core sales force is on hand to advise employees and manage individual accounts.