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Stand:updated on 14.06.2019 | Topic Investments of insurance companies Guarantee Assets Trustee

The trustee for monitoring the guarantee assets is responsible for safeguarding the guarantee assets of insurance undertakings and pension funds. The protection of these assets is of great importance since they are used for the preferential satisfaction of legitimate claims of beneficiaries in the event of insolvency.

The German Insurance Supervision Act (Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz – VAG) stipulates that insurance undertakings and pension funds appoint a trustee for monitoring the guarantee assets. The guarantee assets may only be disposed of with the trustee's consent. It is the trustee's responsibility to assess whether assets qualify as guarantee assets and to determine whether they can be added to the guarantee assets.

The trustee ensures that the guarantee assets are not impaired and sufficient to cover the minimum requirement for guarantee assets so that in the event of insolvency all beneficiaries’ claims can be satisfied.

The provisions concerning the guarantee assets trustee are set out in sections 128-130 of the VAG. Further details on these provisions are stated in BaFin Circular 03/2016 (VA).

Duties of the trustee

Upon assuming office, trustees for monitoring of the guarantee assets must obtain information on relevant announcements from BaFin and keep up-to-date during their term of office. In addition to those directly applying to the trustee itself, the relevant announcements also include:

  • investments, where they relate to the guarantee assets
  • structured products
  • asset-backed securities and credit-linked notes
  • hedge funds
  • notification and reporting requirements regarding the investment portfolio as a whole
  • conducting stress tests
  • keeping of the register of guarantee assets (register of assets) and custody of the guarantee assets

Additional information

More on this topic

Electronic submission of a register of guarantee assets (Sicherungsvermögensverzeichnis)

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Publications on this topic

Cir­cu­lar 11/2017 (VA)

Guidance on Investing the Guarantee Assets of Primary Insurance Undertakings which are subject to the Provisions for Small Insurance Undertakings (sections 212 to 217 of the German Insurance Supervision Act, as well as of German Pensionskassen and Pensionsfonds (Investment Circular)

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In times of low interest rates, insurers increasingly reach for derivatives – for hedging purposes but also to increase their yields. BaFin requires them to have the risks under control.

The right bal­ance

How insurers design their asset-liability management (ALM) and the role played by sustainability risks

Cir­cu­lar 3/2016 (VA) - Trustee for Mon­i­tor­ing of the Guar­an­tee As­sets (Sicherungsver­mö­gen)

Circular 3/2016 (VA) - Trustee for Monitoring of the Guarantee Assets (Sicherungsvermögen)

In­vest­ments: In­sur­ers search­ing for yield?

Towards the end of 2016, BaFin carried out a survey on behalf of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) into insurers' investment behaviour. The results are published on the EIOPA website.

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