Austria Moves to Open Company Pensions to Every Worker by 2028
Published on 09/24/2026 at 03:24 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Austria's parliament is weighing a sweeping overhaul of occupational retirement provision that could, from 2028, give every employee access to a pension fund. The reform package, discussed in reports dated 23 September 2026, is designed to make company pensions more flexible and tilt them further toward capital markets.
A Choice Between Guarantees and Returns
At the heart of the plan sits a new decision employees would make about their own retirement money. Under the current "Abfertigung neu" severance model, workers' contributions come with a capital guarantee. The reform would let them stay in that model or switch to a riskier option instead.
That alternative drops the guarantee and rules out early payout when a job ends. In exchange, it offers higher potential returns through a growth-oriented investment strategy.
A second pillar of the proposal would allow severance entitlements to be transferred into a pension fund at no cost. The trade-off: savers would lose the ability to freely dispose of that capital when they reach retirement age.
According to expert assessments cited in the reports, the aim is to keep money inside the retirement system for longer. Today, Austria's severance pay funds disburse roughly 1.1 billion euros a year — about 5 percent of their total assets.
Opposition Pushback and the Numbers Behind the Debate
Political reaction has been mixed. FPÖ lawmaker Peter Wurm attacked the design of the second pillar, warning that a globally diversified equity portfolio could bring substantial losses. His party wants investments steered toward European stock exchanges instead and rejects the current proposal.
The Pensioners' Association of Austria (PVÖ) has added its own demand: lower the hurdles women face and count 30 insurance years as enough to qualify for a pension.
Figures from the Financial Market Authority (FMA) show just how large Austria's occupational pension sector has grown. As of 30 June 2026, assets managed by pension funds (Pensionskassen) rose 5.9 percent to 31.9 billion euros. Company severance funds (Betriebliche Vorsorgekassen) grew 5.7 percent to 25.2 billion euros.
All told, the severance funds hold 11.53 million entitlements, with employers paying in 1.53 percent of gross salary each month.
Germany's Parallel Debate
North of the border, occupational pensions are also under scrutiny. In Berlin, the German Insurance Association (GDV) called for the retirement reform to continue, backing a standardized basic product and a central administration platform aimed at smaller employers.
The reason lies in how unevenly workplace pensions are spread. Among companies with more than 1,000 staff, 86 percent offer one. At firms with fewer than 10 employees, only about one in four workers holds such an entitlement. Across Germany, 18.1 million employees have a company pension commitment.
Separately, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) clarified the tax rules in a letter dated 17 September 2026. Provisions can now be set aside for contribution-based benefit promises that carry no guaranteed minimum payout. As for Germany's planned new retirement savings accounts, due to launch in January 2027, the first providers have already published their terms.
Scalable puts its costs at 0.15 percent. A Quirin subsidiary and Deka have signaled fees below 0.1 percent and exactly 0.1 percent respectively. The state-run option, however, remains uncertain because a required regulation has yet to appear.
