CPV/CAP Pensionskasse, the CHF13bn pension fund for Swiss retail and wholesale company Coop-Gruppe, is shifting its focus to domestic equities in its new four-year strategy, citing concerns over overvalued US stocks.
The share of Swiss equities in the fund’s portfolio has increased by 1 percentage point to 8% of total assets, following an asset and liability management (ALM) study for the 2025-2029 period.
US stocks now account for over 70% of the MSCI World Index and are comparatively highly valued after many good years, the fund disclosed in its publication Transparent. The pension fund has, therefore, opted to increase allocations to domestic equities rather than foreign equities.
Last year, global equities underperformed Swiss equities, although both markets remain concentrated.
Consultancy PPCmetrics reported that Swiss equities in pension fund portfolios returned 17.53% in 2025, versus 6.79% for unhedged global equities and 15.12% for hedged global equities.
PPCmetrics highlighted concentration risks, US allocations, rising national debt in the US and France, currency hedging, gold and bitcoin, and private market risks and costs as key issues for Swiss pension funds in 2026.
Under the new strategy, CPV/CAP has reduced its target allocation to private equity from 4.5% to 3% of total assets. After reviewing portfolio performance and expected returns, the fund decided to cut down private equity exposure.
This mirrors a broader trend among Swiss funds, which are approaching private markets with caution following slower distributions, disappointing returns versus public markets, and recent US credit market bankruptcies, including car parts supplier First Brands and subprime auto lender Tricolor.
The fund expects the new strategy to generate an annual long-term return of almost 3%.
Swiss real estate remains a core, stable asset class, particularly residential properties, which make up most of CPV/CAP’s real estate holdings.
Investment in Swiss real estate rises to 27% of total assets, up from 25%, while the share of foreign real estate falls by 1.5 percentage points to 3.5% to maintain balance, the fund said.
