Swiss Life has designed a new occupational pension product, the Swiss Life Maximo, that gives employees the option to invest sustainably.

The insurer offers the new occupational pension product with three ESG-compliant funds – Income+ Green, Balance+ Green and Dynamic+ Green – through Swiss Life Asset Managers and two iShares ETFs – the iShares Core MSCI World and the iShares MSCI World SRI – via BlackRock.

A total of eight investment strategies are given as options and over 90 individual funds and portfolios for further investments.

Workers can choose a guarantee of at least 80% or of at least 60%, depending on whether employees want higher opportunities for returns on investments or lower risk.

“The mix of security and opportunities for returns has been well received by employees and employers,” said Stefan Holzer, member of the executive board at Swiss Life Germany.

Ethos pushes ahead with Credit Suisse special audit

Ethos Foundation is pushing ahead with a shareholders´ resolution asking for a special audit to investigate the connection between insolvent Greensill Capital and Credit Suisse, and the leaks alleging that the bank had criminals, autocrats and war criminals as clients.

Ethos has considered the responses made public by Credit Suisse on Greensill and the Suisse Secrets, as the leaks are called, “insufficient,” it said.

Although the answers provide a certain level of transparency to shareholders, Ethos said in a statement, “it seems strange” that the board of directors at Credit Suisse was aware of Greensill’s financial difficulties only in February last year.

Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) refrained from taking measures after reports emerged that KPMG, Deloitte and BDO turned down a tender for an audit mandate at Greensill, according to the answers.

Lex Greensill, the chief executive officer of Greensill, had contacted Credit Suisse in 2016 and the bank´s asset management division (CSAM) decided to start the first supply chain fund, the Virtuoso Fund, in 2017.

CSAM ended up managing four supply chain funds worth $10bn. Ethos had already made clear that without a third party checking Credit Suisse’s answers on Greensill and the Suisse Secrets the request of a special audit would remain an item of discussion at the lender’s AGM on 29 April.

“This approach would have been simpler and faster than a special audit and would have made it possible to clear out certain interrogations”, said Vincent Kaufmann, Ethos’ CEO.

Last month Ethos Foundation, along with seven other Swiss pension funds – including Publica, Bernische Pensionskasse, the Pensionskasse of the city of Zurich PKZK, Pensionskasse Post, Inter-Company Professional Provident Fund (CIEPP) Bernische Lehrerversichergungskasse and Cap Providence – requested clarity from the bank on the Greensill supply chain funds and the Suisse Secrets.

The latest digital edition of IPE’s magazine  in now available