SWITZERLAND – Peter Dueggeli, director of the Swiss fund PUBLICA (formerly PKB), has announced he will be leaving the position at the end of next June.

Dueggeli became director of the pension fund in October 2000. He will now be stepping down on June 30 2004 as he intends to take on a new career challenge.

The fund will start to look for a replacement in the near future.

PUBLICA also recently announced a change in its strategy. The investment strategy implemented in 1999 no longer suits the risk profile of the fund, as various parts of the fund have since been hived off, says the scheme. A spokesman at the fund said that allocation to bonds has been increased.

Given the current risk profile and dependency ratio of 1.3:1, the asset allocation is now 63% in Swiss bonds, 5% in foreign bonds, 8% in Swiss equities, 14% in foreign equities and 10% in Swiss property. A long-term return of 4.10% is targeted. In the first half of this year, the fund returned four percent.

PUBLICA has 28 billion Swiss francs (18 billion euros) in assets under management, and is the fund for Swiss government employees. PKB (Pensionskasses des Bundes) changed its name to PUBLICA in July.