SWITZERLAND – Publica, Switzerland's largest public pension fund, is aiming to hire a new head of asset management division by the end of next month.
Earlier this month, the CHF35bn (€28bn) Pensionskasse for federal public employees and civil servants announced that Susanne Haury von Siebenthal would be leaving as head of asset management in June.
Managing director Dieter Stohler confirmed to IPE that the fund was currently looking for Haury von Siebenthal's successor and had published a job spec online at the website of Swiss news daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
The advert states that the fund is looking for someone with "well-founded knowledge" of the occupational pension system in Switzerland who is "familiar" with the regulatory framework and has several years' experience in institutional asset management.
Stohler said the "optimistic" scenario would be for Publica to find a replacement by the end of April.
Haury von Siebenthal had served as head of asset management at the scheme since 2005, also acting as deputy director since 2007.
In a statement, Publica said it owed its "outstanding" reputation to her efforts.
Haury von Siebenthal introduced separate asset management strategies for open and closed schemes within the Pensionskasse and prevented the fund from investing in any "opaque" investment vehicles.
In 2012, the fund returned almost 8%, above the average – approximately 6.5% – calculated for the industry.
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