SWITZERLAND – Swiss pension funds fell –1.1% in the second quarter, said performance measurement firm InterSec Switzerland in a report.

“The most recent quarterly results (2nd quarter 2004) for InterSec's Swiss Balanced Universe – representing invested Swiss pension fund portfolios according to the Swiss BVG/LPP directives – showed a slightly negative trend, but moved along with the index,” the firm said in a release.

It said the median manager returned -1.1% for the quarter and slightly underperformed the InterSec Balanced Benchmark’s -1.0%.

“The Pictet BVG/LPP index for the 2nd quarter 2004 returned -1.4%,” it added.

"The relatively strong overweight of the asset class 'Foreign Equities' in the universe versus the underlying weight in the IBB led to higher losses than the index, but they were balanced out by underweights in the asset classes 'Foreign Bonds in Swiss Francs' and 'Foreign Bonds', which both had worse returns than the equities asset classes this quarter,” said marketing and sales vice president Peter Leutenegger.