Thanks to its proven real value strategy with a high proportion of shares and real estate and because of the positive market environment, the Profond Pension Fund has generated a highly pleasing performance of 12.7 per cent in 2021. This allows Profond to pay interest on retirement assets at an exceptionally high 8 per cent. Even current retirement pensioners will receive a one-off supplementary pension of CHF 1000 and, as a result, participate directly in last year’s performance. 

A funding ratio of 117 per cent testifies to great stability

With a provisional total return of 12.7 per cent and a provisional funding ratio of 117 per cent, the Profond Pension Fund can look back on an extremely successful financial year. The average annual return over the last 30 years is, as a result, 5.4 per cent. The funding ratio is also above the target value fluctuation reserve and reflects a very stable underwriting basis for Profond’s pension business. At the end of 2021, assets under management totalled around CHF 11 billion. The number of insured persons remained stable at around 58 000. In 2021 Profond once again took first place in the pension fund comparison of the SonntagsZeitung and Finanz und Wirtschaft for the highest interest rate over 10 years (2011–2020), making it the best pension fund in Switzerland in this category.

Investment strategy as a success factor

The long-term investment strategy, which is characterised by a high proportion of equities and real estate, has paid off for Profond’s policyholders particularly well in 2021 and even achieved a positive return in the previous year, which was characterised by many uncertainties and volatile capital markets because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are pleased that we can offer our insured persons and our pensioners a special interest rate or a one-time supplementary pension of CHF 1000 this year,” says Laurent Schlaefli, Chief Executive Officer of Profond. 

Digital transformation continues

The digital transformation of the Profond Pension Fund is being driven forward with a strong customer-centred focus. In 2021 further interfaces were refined and optimised in consultation with our clients, insured persons and partners. In particular, the “ProfondConnect” digital customer platform has proven to be a central interface in this collaboration. 

Sustainability in investment and occupational pensions

Since 2018, sustainability has been one of the strategic pillars of our corporate management. In 2021, Profond published for the first time a separate publication on sustainability in addition to the official annual report. The materiality analysis, on which the sustainability strategy is based, has identified the fields of action and priorities that Profond has been constantly working on, reviewing, adjusting and integrating into day-to-day operations in a rolling process. Particular attention has been paid to capital investment, as this area is where the greatest leverage effect lies in Profond’s business. Profond’s investment strategy takes into account environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG approach), based on annual and systematic ESG portfolio analyses from external providers. In doing so, Profond is pursuing a holistic approach with respect to both returns and impact. For Swiss equities, Profond always invests directly and does not own any managed fund units. In addition, Profond is actively assuming its responsibility and role as an investor and has been exercising its voting rights at general meetings since 1999. Further details on Profond’s sustainability strategy can be found at: 

www.profond.ch/en/about-us/sustainability 

All retirement pensioners who are entitled to a retirement pension from Profond in December 2021 and are still living as at December 2021 are entitled to the one-off supplementary pension. The amount of the one-off supplementary pension is the same for all recipients of retirement pensions and independent of the amount of their retirement pension.

In 2021 Profond will pay interest on the special accounts (uncommitted funds and employer contribution reserves) at 0.5% interest. We recommend distributing the uncommitted funds so that the insured persons benefit from the higher interest rate.