FRANKFURT/ESCHBORN (dpa-AFX) – Stephan Leithner, CEO of Deutsche Börse, is calling urgently for a fundamental reform of Germany’s pension system. “We can no longer stand by while ever-increasing billions from the federal budget must be deployed to plug the holes in the pension fund,” Leithner said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur and the financial news agency dpa-AFX.
It is clear, he noted, that the statutory pension will remain as one of the three pillars of retirement provision. “However, capital-market-based occupational and private pensions must play a significantly stronger role.”
The federal government has already taken important steps with the “Early Start Pension” (Frühstart-Rente) and the retirement savings account, a state-standardized securities account. He expressed confidence that the pension commission would build on this to deliver the next major breakthrough.
Regarding the Early Start Pension, under which children from the age of six are to receive ten euros per month from the state for a securities account, Leithner advocates for a significant initial boost via a lump sum: “It would make sense to launch the Early Start Pension with 4,000 euros at the birth of a child, primarily to leverage the compound interest effect.” Furthermore, Leithner is convinced that occupational pension schemes should be included in “every employment contract.”
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has announced that the federal government intends to initiate a rebalancing of the three pillars – statutory, private, and occupational pensions – before the end of this year. The pension commission established by the CDU/CSU and SPD is expected to submit reform proposals by mid-year./als/ben/zb/DP/zb