The system of company pension schemes is suffering in two respects in the historically low interest rate phase.
Low interest rates increase the present value of future pension commitments and thus the liabilities in the company's balance sheet.
On the other hand, the pension funds are faced with an investment dilemma because they have not been generating the income with interest-bearing paper that they promised to pay out for a long time.
The German financial supervisory authority Bafin is therefore looking at the pension funds with concern and is examining 40 of them particularly intensively.
Even if rising inflation can pose major threats to the economy, higher interest rates can now also have a relieving effect.
With them, the present value of the pension commitments would decrease, which can ease the debt of the companies.
The car company Volkswagen could particularly benefit from this.
In the medium term, fixed-income securities would become more attractive again due to higher yields.
However, the interest rate level is still so low that an increase in interest rates would be necessary, which would initially trigger significant price losses for the bonds in circulation.
The need for value adjustments would then also be very high at the European Central Bank.
Because it and its affiliated central banks, such as the Bundesbank, now hold the largest bond portfolios in Europe.