German public sector pension fund Versorgungsanstalt des Bundes und der Länder (VBL) has filed an appeal against a court decision in July, which ruled that it is obliged to provide information on individual capital investments under certain conditions.

In a statement on its website, VBL said that both the fund and the plaintiff have applied for leave to appeal to the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg.

“We have not yet received a decision on whether the Administrative Court will allow the applications and whether the appeal proceedings will then be conducted,” it stated.

On 17 July 2025, the Administrative Court of Karlsruhe ruled that the VBL was obliged to provide information on individual holdings in the investment portfolio under certain conditions.

“The judgment still leaves questions unanswered, even after intensive examination of the reasons for the judgment. It is not yet legally binding due to the appeals lodged,” the fund added.

“To date, the VBL fulfils all the requirements stipulated by law for pension funds and comparable company pension schemes in Germany.”

In the July ruling, the Administrative Court of Karlsruhe found that VBL is obliged to provide information on individual capital investments under certain conditions, granting the plaintiff a restricted right to information for the years 2020 and 2021.

The court stated that disclosure is only required where no trade or business secrets are involved and noted that VBL had already fulfilled its broader reporting obligations under the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG).

The institution currently manages approximately €65bn in assets and, in 2024, paid around €5.9bn in benefits to 1.5 million pensioners. VBL is Germany’s largest supplementary pension provider for the public sector, serving around 5.3 million insured individuals and 5,400 employers.

Its participants include the federal and state governments, municipal bodies, and social security institutions.

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