In today's world, company-owned pension funds as well as collective and joint institutions (SGEs) are confronted with various challenges. To learn more about these issues and the future of pension funds in Switzerland, Credit Suisse interviewed Laurent Schlaefli, President of inter-pension and Managing Director of the Profond Collective Foundation, as part of the Pension Fund Study 2023.

The "inter-pension" interest group has set itself the goal of promoting exchange among the SBUs in Switzerland. The association currently has about 50 members with around CHF 250 billion in assets. Laurent Schlaefli believes that the consolidation process in the pension fund market is not yet complete and that there is also a trend towards consolidation among the SBUs. This is due to increasing regulatory requirements and the growing complexity of the investment business.

Schlaefli does not believe that the full insurance model will become competitive again because of higher interest rates. SBUs and semi-autonomous pension funds had so far paid much better interest on the retirement assets of their insured and had not demanded any restructuring contributions during the difficult years around 2008.

The managing director of Profond emphasises the advantages of company-owned pension funds, such as the direct connection of the employer to the pension fund and the possibility to recruit employees for the board of trustees. However, SBUs offer the advantage that they are not dependent on just one employer, which means that the risk profile is lower.

According to Schlaefli, there are no significant differences between SBUs and company-owned pension funds in their investment strategy. In general, he sees that real assets and illiquid investments have gained in importance in recent years.

The President of inter-pension counts the growing individualisation wishes of the insured and the lack of knowledge about the second pillar among the population among the central challenges for pension funds: "It's up to banks, advisors, associations and other players to make clear the importance of occupational pension provision."

Laurent Schlaefli emphasises that collective and community institutions are aware of their economic responsibility and believes that the current legal framework is sufficient. A high degree of self-regulation is the only right way to ensure a stable second pillar.

Read the interview in full here (only available in German and French).

Here you can find the Credit Suisse Pension Fund Study 2023 (only available in German and French).