Bundestag study: equity pension could channel €1.75 trillion into capital markets
A study commissioned by the Left Party finds that up to €1.75 trillion in pension contributions could flow into capital markets by the early 2060s. Schwerdtner calls it a “compulsory levy”.
Archive image · Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
If the planned equity pension is introduced as intended, up to €1.75 trillion in pension contributions could flow into the capital market by the early 2060s – around €80 billion a year at its peak. That is the finding of a study by the Bundestag's Research Service commissioned by the Left Party, which ZDFheute has seen. It would be financed through higher contributions shared between employers and employees, as recommended by the pension commission.
Left Party co-leader Ines Schwerdtner rejects the plan: “This is a compulsory levy on citizens for the benefit of the financial industry.” People would pay more “without being able to decide for themselves where their money ends up”, she said. The party wants the reform stopped and the costs covered by higher contributions and tax subsidies. Financial markets researcher Christine Laudenbach of the Leibniz Institute SAFE disagrees: “The stock market is not a casino.” A globally diversified portfolio returned around five percent a year in real terms on average from 1900 to 2024, she said.
For the SPD, the equity pension is the “centrepiece of the reform”, says Annika Klose, who served as deputy chair of the pension commission. She considers it “completely illusory” that the funded pension will be presented sooner than spring; the SPD expects a law only in 2027. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) wants the pension reform to reach cabinet this year.