Thommessen advises both pension providers (such as life insurance companies and pension funds) and pension clients (employers) on all legal aspects related to pensions.
Our lawyers have extensive experience with ongoing advisory work, regulatory issues, asset management, transactions, and pension-related issues in the labor market. Several members of our team have backgrounds from key public authorities, providing valuable insight into regulatory processes and considerations.
Our legal services cover, among other areas:
- Regulatory advice: We regularly assist pension funds and life insurance companies with matters concerning solvency capital and product requirements, governance and organisational requirements, ICT and the DORA framework, reporting obligations and dividend distributions, buffer funds and surplus sharing, as well as various licensing issues. Our experience also includes transfers, portfolio transactions and wind-downs of pension funds, in addition to recovery and resolution matters.
- Asset management and tax: We advise on investment rules, risk management, tax treatment and reporting obligations for pension institutions.
- Transactions: We have long-standing experience with transactions between regulated entities in the pension market. Our combination of regulatory expertise and transaction support facilitates efficient dialogue with the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet).
- Occupational pension: We assist employers with the design and amendment of pension schemes, including pensions in connection with business transfers and disputes concerning pension entitlements (top-hat schemes, contractual early retirement (AFP), pensionable income, etc.)
- Procurements: We also advise on procurement processes where pension schemes form part of the tender documentation.