Contractual Trust Arrangement

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A pension trust or contractual trust arrangement (CTA) (also known as a trust model ) is a legal model within the framework of company pension schemes in order to separate pension obligations from the balance sheet in the form of direct commitments.

A separate trust company is set up to which the pensions are transferred, which manages them and whose assets may only be used for the purpose of meeting the pension obligations. There are similarities to the implementation method of the "normal" pension funds , to which a CTA can be used as an alternative or in addition.

A basic distinction is made between the company's own CTA (also called individual CTA) and the cross-company CTA (also called group CTA).

As of June 2010, there were around 100 individual CTAs and around 20 group CTAs in Germany. There is no complete list of all CTAs in Germany, as there is no obligation to register them centrally or in an association. Individual CTAs can approximately be researched via the association and commercial register . Group CTAs generally require an exemption from BaFin in accordance with Section 2 KWG and are listed there.

Structure of CTAs

CTAs are legally independent associations that are bound by corresponding contracts to the company from which the pension claims originate. Companies can transfer their pension obligations to an external trustee through the “Contractual Trust Arrangement” (CTA).

The trustee for the CTA can have the legal form of a GmbH , a foundation or a registered association .

The legally and economically independent organization takes on the function of a " trust ".

The core of the CTA construction is the following: There is a trust agreement between the company / employer and the trustee, the administrative trust. From a legal point of view, this relationship is usually a contract in favor of third parties within the meaning of § 328 BGB . The security trustee exists between the trustee and the employee side .

Differentiation from pension funds

Sometimes the CTA and pension funds are presented side by side, but the CTA is not a separate bAv implementation path , but only a path to capital backing for a direct commitment using a trust model. Even if the basic idea of ​​the construction is similar, there are differences in terms of labor, regulatory and tax law as well as in economic terms, including the costs of insolvency insurance .

A combination of the two processes as a so-called "integration model" (also called "one-plan model") is intended to combine the advantages and was first implemented in 2006.

advantages

  • Establishing your own company provides additional protection against bankruptcy,
  • The company's international balance sheet is shortened and this results in an improvement in some financial indicators. This can improve a company's credit rating ,
  • Great freedom of design for investment strategies (e.g. investments in your own company),
  • no obligation to make additional contributions in the event of insufficient coverage,
  • no supervision or control by insurance supervisors .

disadvantage

  • Obligations to employees from direct commitments remain unchanged, i. H. possible obligation to make additional reservations,
  • Contributions to the pension insurance association remain in place,
  • The funds raised to finance the CTA are no longer available for the company's internal financing.

Bankruptcies

There are two first so-called backup cases. In general, the security case occurs with the application for the opening of insolvency proceedings . It is important to distinguish between the fact that the trustor and not the trustee is insolvent.

  1. Qimonda AG
  2. Arcandor AG

Both bankruptcies affect the company's own trustees in the legal form of an association, represented by the board.

literature

  • Martin Begiebing: Contractual Trust Arrangement (CTA) - Insolvency resistance and enforcement powers in the lien model . Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-61355-9 (publications on German and European labor and social law, vol. 21; also dissertation at the University of Cologne, 2010).
  • Benjamin Müller: Contractual trust arrangements: the financing and insolvency protection of direct pension commitments and credit balances by means of a legal trust . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-428-54879-8 (also dissertation at the University of Cologne, 2015).
  • Maximilian von Rom: Insolvency protection and annual financial statements through double-sided trust structures: Legal problems of so-called contractual trust arrangements . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8329-4040-9 (also dissertation at the University of Tübingen 2008).
  • Schirin Rüger: The double trust for insolvency protection of employee claims . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8329-5036-1 (Writings on Insolvency Law Vol. 36; also dissertation at the University of Göttingen, 2009).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rößler, Nicolas: Legal design of CTAs and advantages of the trustee solution . ( mayerbrown.com [PDF] presentation).
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Förster: Outsourcing of pension obligations to a pension company , BetrAV 2001, 133, 135.
  3. ↑ for the complete CTA construction see the diagram by Wolfgang Förster: Outsourcing of pension obligations to a pension company , BetrAV 2001, 133, 135.
  4. ↑ Wildner, Stephan: CTA versus pension funds: balance sheet volatility under BilMoG . In: Benefits! Towers Watson Germany's company-owned professional magazine . No. 3 , December 2010, p. 6-7 ( towerswatson.com [PDF]).