Retirement provision and asset planning

Private pension provision affects us all While 20 years ago bottle collecting pensioners were a rare sight on Germany’s streets, today they are already part of the everyday street scene. The results of a survey of the Deutsche Bank clearly show that already every second German citizenhas anxiety about this, no longer be able to […]

Invalidity of contracts, confiscation of assets and arrest in case of breach of penalties

Sanctions have been in fashion for centuries, and are being broken. The widow Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin, in reaction to Napoleon’s Russian campaign, was concerned with the embargo imposed by the Russian Tsar on French products in 1812. The widow hired a Dutch ship, had it loaded with over 10,000 bottles of the 1811 vintage, and was […]

Compliance: Is the pool use “risky”?

A report by the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia on “Financial Investigations 2014” substantiates the suspicion of commission fraud by the number of submitted contract initiations in insurance sales. There were reports on two insurance brokers who had submitted their applications for endowment insurance policies (KLV) via three different pools. “The alleged beneficiaries/contractors […]

Risk Time value account

Financial product distributors are increasingly promoting working time accounts and the models of partial retirement. The financial intermediaries are mostly concerned with commissions: Few brokers are aware of the civil and criminal liability risks. A time value account is not an implementation method of the company pension scheme. Rather, it is a matter of a […]

Bank liability for investor damage or investor contribution to the subprime crisis

When selling, advising or brokering certificates and derivatives, special information is required to avoid liability towards investors. Credit institutions sold “guarantee” certificates and similar constructs to bank customers, for example the Lehman Brothers Bank, as a safe investment: numerous liability traps await bank and savings bank advisors.   I. Consultant incompetence and conditions trap Certificates […]

Liability for real estate loans and equity financing with life insurance – banks, insurance companies and brokers are responsible for repayment

Life insurance policies for the repayment of construction loans The combination of several financial products (e.g. building loan and life insurance, real estate loan and building society contract) promises the investor additional income through possible interest rate differences or tax savings, and at the same time additional commission for the agent. However, it is not […]

Camouflage constructs in the enforcement practice of the tax office – or tax evasion deluxe* How tax authorities discover incomplete voluntary declarations and find hidden funds

1. the fairy tale of the wild-eyed lone perpetrator Bankers and representatives of foreign life insurers must be willing to travel and be creative. Even dubious arrangements should at least leave the customer with the feeling that “the tax authorities will certainly not find out”. Revelations followed through offshore leaks, interested journalists, bought up CD-ROM’s, […]

Up to more than 50 % less pension for chamber professionals

Around 90 pension funds, also known as pension chambers, are public corporations that collect funds from their “compulsory members” to build up a funded pension scheme. Past and foreseeable pension cuts challenge the system. The Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg ruled that no compulsory member may stop paying contributions “because of an allegedly erroneous investment […]

Risk for doctors: Significantly lower pensions from pension funds

Around 90 pension funds, also known as pension chambers, are public corporations that collect funds from their “compulsory members” to build up a funded pension scheme. But the pension cuts that have already been decided, as well as those that are foreseeable in the future, call the system into question. However, “withdrawal” is not an […]