DHL 2014 Annual Report Download - page 185

Individual subsidiaries in Germany have retirement plans
that were acquired in the context of acquisitions and transfers of
operations and that are closed to new entrants.
In the , the Group’s dened benet pension arrangements
have largely been closed to new entrants for a number of years. In
addition, Deutsche Post  Group committed itself to a change
in its pension strategy in the  on  November , and these
arrange ments are now also largely closed for further service accrual,
with eect from  April . As a result, negative past service cost
was recognised in the prior year (shown in the tables below before
closure costs and transitional payments). Since  April , the
employees aected have been able to participate in a dened con-
tribution arrangement.
Currently, one single dened benet pension arrangement
of the Group in the  remains open to existing employees, who
have not yet chosen to join, or to new employees as a result of a
business transfer from the  government. It provides for monthly
payments from retirement, depending on length of service and
nal salary. In addition, a pension commencement lump sum is
payable. Indexation of pension payments is linked to ination.
is arrangement also includes invalidity benets and surviving
dependents’ benets.
e majority of the Group’s (dened benet) arrangements
in the  have been consolidated into a group plan with dierent
sections for the participating divisions. ese are largely funded
via a group trust. e amount of the employer contributions must
be negotiated with the trustee in the course of funding valuations.
e trustee’s directors are Group employees, former employees and
non-Group third parties, all of whom are required to be independ-
ent. Employee beneciaries make their own funding contributions
in the case of the remaining open dened benet arrangement. e
group plan is mainly governed by the corresponding trust deed
and rules and the  Pensions Acts.
A wide variety of other dened benet retirement plans in
the Group are to be found in the Netherlands, Switzerland, the 
and a large number of other countries.
In the Netherlands, collective agreements require that those
employees who are not covered by a sector-specic plan participate
in a dedicated dened benet retirement plan. Following a change
in the plan in the year under review, the benet plan is no longer
based on nal salary, but exclusively provides for annual accruals
from  January . In addition, a new pensionable salary cap is
applied in accordance with the relevant Dutch laws. Consequently,
negative past service cost had to be recognised in the year under
review. e dedicated dened benet retirement plan provides for
monthly benet payments that increase in line with the agreed
wage and salary increases on the one hand and the funds available
for such increases on the other.
In Switzerland, employees receive an occupational pension
in line with statutory requirements, depending on the contribu-
tions paid, an interest rate that is xed each year, certain annuity
factors and any pension increases specied. On  December ,
a change in the plan was resolved which will lead to a change, from
 January , in the annuity factors in particular. Consequently,
negative past service cost was recognised in the year under review.
In the , the companies’ dened benet plans have been
closed to new entrants and accrued entitlements have been frozen.
e Group companies in these three countries primarily use
joint funding institutions within the Group. In the Netherlands
and in Switzerland, both employers and employees contribute to
plan funding. In the  no contributions are currently made to
the companies’ dened benet plans. In the year under review,
there were no material amendments, curtailments or settlements
aecting the Group’s dened benet plans in the Other area, be-
yond the two plan changes in the Netherlands and Switzerland
mentioned above.
Various risks arise in the context of dened benet plans. Of
these risks, the interest rate risk and investment risk in particular
are still deemed to be signicant.
e information below on pension obligations is broken
down into the following areas: Germany,  and Other.
Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
179
Consolidated Financial Statements — NOTES — Balance sheet disclosures