Switzerland Investment and Pensions

Occupational pensions remain in a state of uneasy stability. Changes are needed to the key parameters that govern accruals and benefits, but the Swiss people repeatedly reject reform attempts at the ballot box. The federal pensions supervisor OAK BV has proposed changes aimed at reducing risk as parts of the sector consolidate. The regulator has its eyes on multi-employer schemes (Sammelstiftungen and Gemeinschaftseinrichtungen), calling for a harmonised risk-based supervisory regime. Pension experts have warned against federal pensions supervisory mission creep, however. Private and public sector Pensionskassen have the highest funding ratio in 25 years, according to recent research by Swisscanto and equity allocations have reached an all-time high at 34.% of assets – but funds plan to reduce this to under a third. In further reforms, the federal government has allowed pension funds to access repo transactions directly, rather than through single-investor funds, as was previously the case. This is restricted to 1% of assets when used for liquidity purposes and 3% for currency hedging.