Stefan Wintels, chief executive of the German development bank KfW, is urging a broad expansion of capital‑funded pensions. “We need a reform of the social systems, especially the pension system” he told the news magazine “Focus”.
Wintels argued that the issue is complex, but when the long‑term returns of the stock market are compared with the meagre interest earned on ordinary savings accounts, it becomes clear that large opportunities to increase wealth for the wider population have been missed. “The facts speak clearly in favour” he said.
Before joining KfW, Wintels spent decades working for Citigroup. He is convinced that a pension system rooted in the capital markets is superior to other investment models. “Many countries-including those governed by social democrats-started moving their pension systems 20 or 30 years ago. To my knowledge no country has regretted the change” he added.
In Germany, efforts to introduce such a system have only progressed through early attempts by the Free Democratic Party (FDP) during the current traffic‑light coalition, but have yet to materialise into a full‑scale policy.