DHL 2015 Annual Report Download - page 179

Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
e large majority of Deutsche Post ’s obligations relates to
the vested entitlements of hourly workers and salaried employees
on the transition date in  and to legacy pension commitments
towards former hourly workers and salaried employees who had le
or retired from the company by the transition date. e amounts
individually determined for the vested entitlements of the active
hourly workers and salaried employees are subject to an annual rate
of increase of . .
Deutsche Post ’s overall pension plan is based on the
Betriebs rentengesetz (BetrAVG – German Occupational Pension
Act), in addition to collective agreements and other relevant docu-
ments. e prime source of external funding is a contractual trust
arrangement that also covers a support fund and a pension fund.
e trust is funded on a case-by-case basis in line with the Group’s
nance strategy and the support fund on an ongoing basis in line
with tax law options. In the case of the pension fund the regulatory
funding requirements can, in principle, be met without additional
employer contributions. e support fund’s governing bodies in-
clude both Deutsche Post  employees and former employees. Part
of the plan assets consists of real estate that is leased out to the
Group on a long-term basis. In addition, some of the legacy pension
commitments use Versorgungsanstalt der Deutschen Bundespost
, a joint pension fund operated by the Deutsche Bundespost
successor companies.
Individual subsidiaries in Germany have retirement plans that
were acquired in the context of acquisitions and transfers of oper-
ations and that are closed to new entrants. New contractual trust
arrangements were agreed and implemented for three subsidiaries
in the reporting year.
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 . e employees aected have been
able to participate in a dened contribution arrangement since
 April .
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. Annual
increases in pension payments are linked to ination. is arrange-
ment 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 sec-
tions 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 independent.
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 previous year, 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 previous year. 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 contributions
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 led to a change, from  January ,
in the annuity factors in particular. Consequently, negative past
service cost was recognised in the previous year. A separate plan
providing for lump sum payments instead of annuities exists for
specic higher wage components.
In the , the companies’ dened benet plans have been
closed to new entrants and accrued entitlements have been frozen.
e Group companies primarily use joint funding institutions
to fund their dedicated dened benet retirement plans in these
three countries. In the Netherlands and in Switzerland, both
employers and employees contribute to plan funding. In the  no
contributions are currently made in this regard.
Various risks arise in the context of dened benet retirement
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.
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Consolidated Financial Statements — NOTES — Balance sheet disclosures