Higher pension provision due to new mortality tables

According to the regulations of the HGB, pension provisions are to be recognised in the amount necessary to fulfil the obligations according to reasonable commercial judgement (§ 253 para. 1 sentence 2 HGB). This means that the amount should be reserved that is likely to be needed to meet the obligations at a later date.

In order to be able to determine this amount actuarially, assumptions must be made regarding the influencing parameters such as retirement age, salary increases, pension dynamics and mortality probabilities according to empirical values.

Since 2018, the 2005 G mortality tables by Klaus Heubeck have been generally recognised for the valuation of pension obligations in Germany and are used in almost all cases. This is a so-called generation table (from which the G is derived), the probabilities of which differ not only by age and gender but also by year of birth. This takes into account, among other things, medical progress, which in principle allows younger people to live longer.

According to these guideline tables, for example, more than 20 percent of men born in 2020 will reach an age of at least 100. In the 1960 cohort, this proportion was only four percent. As pleasing as these statistics are for all of us, they also show that in the long term, in addition to low interest rates, there will be another major problem in the financing of pensions, namely life expectancy. Innovative provision and financing concepts will be necessary in the future.