On August 5, the German Federal Ministry of Finance published a draft bill to strengthen the fund market. This is primarily intended to transpose Directive (EU) 2024/927 amending the UCITS and AIFM Directives into national law on a one-to-one basis. However, the Act to Strengthen the Fund Market also contains other points that do not implement EU law but are intended to strengthen Germany as a fund centre. We report on the most interesting aspects.

In late June, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Finance published the ministerial draft of a Second Act to Strengthen Occupational Pensions. Among other things, it provides for amendments to the Regulation on the Investment of the Guarantee Assets of Pensionskassen, Funeral Expenses Funds and Small Insurance Undertakings (Investment Regulation, or Anlageverordnung). The changes will also affect a number of professional pension schemes via references in the relevant state laws. According to the draft, pension funds are not affected.

At the end of last year, the Federal Ministry of Finance published the application decree on the CFC Act. There is positive news to report: (1) Investors, for whom the attributed income does not trigger a tax liability, do not have to submit a CFC return (for example, pension funds and investment funds), (2) for the calculation of the degree of control, there is no presumption of acting together with the other partners of a partnerships if partnership interest does not exceed 5 percent.