SWITZERLAND - The Swiss government has named the members of its new federal pensions supervisory body - the Oberaufsichtskommission (OAK) - following the appointment of former liberal party MP Pierre Triponez as its president.

The OAK's board will consist of seven members, the government said.

Vera Kupper Staub, who was named vice-president of the commission, will assist Triponez. 

Kupper Staub started her professional career in 1992 at Swiss pension fund consulting firm ECOFIN, before joining the institutional asset management of UBS in 1997.

In 2000, she joined the Pensionskasse for the Swiss city of Zurich (PKZH), where she was most recently chief investment officer.

She left the pension fund earlier this year to pursue a political career, previously running as a candidate for the regional parliament of the canton of Zurich.

André Dubey, Peter Leibfried, Thomas Hohl and Catherine Pietrini will also sit in the commission's board.

Dubey is a reader at the university of high commercial studies in Lausanne, while Leibfried is an executive director at the Institute for Accounting, Controlling and Auditing at Saint-Gall University.

Hohl headed the CHF17bn (€13bn) pension scheme of Swiss retailer Migros (MPK) between 2000 and 2010, while Pietrini was a senior expert in charge of occupational pension planning at Pittet Associés.

Two social partners, Dieter Sigrist and Aldo Ferrari, will also join the board.

Sigrist represents the employers' union and the Swiss union for arts and crafts, while Ferrari is a representative of trade union Travail Suisse.

In June, the Swiss government set up the new top pensions supervisory body - which will be launched on 1 January next year - and named Triponez its president.

Triponez was until this summer an MP for the liberal party and a member of the commission for health and social security.

He told IPE: "The new commission will come to harmonise the current pension system in Switzerland, which is currently fragmented. All the pension schemes will, therefore, comply with the same rules.

"However, the mission of the OAK will not only be to introduce new rules but also to create a strong relationship with the funds to support them in their operations."


The full interview with Pierre Triponez, director of the OAK, will be available in the December issue of IPE magazine.

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