We’re already thinking about tomorrow. This is why sustainability criteria play a key role in our investments, in the pensions sector and in our operational business.
Profond has a focus on sustainability
Sustainability at Profond means sustainable investment, conservation of resources and employee development. These are just some of the numerous examples of how we live up to our corporate responsibility. Sustainable thinking and actions are important to us. This is because as a pension fund, we bear a great responsibility – across many generations.
Responsible investing
Achieving a long-term return for our clients is the core principle of our investment strategy. In addition to the financial aspects, it is important for us to consider environmental, social and governance-related criteria when investing client funds.
We take our responsibility to the insured, employees, society and the environment seriously. For the companies we invest in, we rely on dialogue to encourage them to be more sustainable.
Sustainability when investing client funds
We take our responsibility towards those insured by us, our employees, society and the environment seriously. In doing so, we are particularly committed to those asset classes that we can influence directly.
High performance, as well as security and stability
We are responsible for ensuring prosperity in old age and protecting insureds against the consequences of disability and death. To achieve this, we have to generate suitable returns on an ongoing basis and implement measures that ensure the financial stability and security of our operation. Our long-term investment strategy, which takes account of financial, environmental and social aspects, our exemplary risk management and our interest rate policy make a key contribution to this. This is borne out by our success: Persons insured with us have benefited from an average return of 4.9% p.a. since we were founded in 1991.
Sustainable investments
In our investment decisions, we take account not only of financial criteria, but also of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. A holistic approach is important to us – both in terms of return and impact.
In 2022, we switched our Equities World portfolio to the UBS Climate Aware Solution engagement pool. This can reduce the CO2 footprint (intensity) for the Equities World portfolio by 44%.
As of January 2019, we take the guidelines of the Swiss Association for Responsible Investments (SVVK-ASIR) as an orientation for investing. In addition – together with around 180 other investors – we support the initiative from Swiss Sustainable Finance. This requires index providers to exclude manufacturers of controversial weapons from their indices.
We actively take our responsibility as an investor seriously and exercise our voting rights at general meetings. In doing so, we rely on environment, social and governance criteria (ESG criteria) from the independent Swiss sustainability rating agency Inrate for Swiss equities and “ISS” for foreign stock.
Direct contribution to the energy transition
Thanks to our responsible investment strategy, we have managed to reduce the CO2 footprint of equities and real estate investments by 30% compared to 2015.
As the main shareholder in Agro Energie Schwyz AG, we are making a direct contribution to the energy transition. This company produces green electricity and heat in a CO2-neutral way from regional biomass and was nominated for the Environmental Award in 2020. The use of regional and natural resources for energy supply promotes the independence of the region, creates jobs and reduces the use of fossil fuels and electricity for heat generation.
Real estate investments
Investments in directly held real estate make up around 20% of our portfolio. With ongoing and comprehensive refurbishments, we are reducing CO2 emissions, while paying attention to long-term returns. We develop and review our ESG and climate measures with our external partner Wüest Partner.
In the case of directly held properties, we are pursuing the goal of becoming CO2 neutral by 2050. According to current modelling, the CO2 emissions of our Swiss properties are actually falling much faster than the federal government is aiming for in its targets.
We seek dialogue with companies
We participate in engagement pools and engage in active dialogue with companies. Our goal is to improve the climate strategy of these companies and to promote their transparency regarding their climate risks. With this engagement, we advocate for effective change and support companies on their path to sustainability.
Other topics in focus
Sustainability is an essential component of our strategy. This is why sustainability criteria play a decisive role not only in our investments, but also in our pensions sector and in our business operations.
We support the conservation of resources
In order to keep our environmental footprint as small as possible, we are careful with natural resources and focus on sustainable products. All locations are intentionally sited near a train station and we source electricity exclusively from 100 per cent renewable energies.
For customer visits or business trips, our employees always take public transport or car share. We also support the use of public transport by financing the half-fare travelcard for our employees.
We are an attractive employer
A far-sighted HR policy is important to us. We cultivate an open relationship based on partnership and shaped by appreciation. Interesting jobs, fair employment conditions as well as equal salary and equal opportunities can be taken for granted. This is why, in 2019, we voluntarily had the University of St. Gallen (HSG) examine us for equal pay. We received the “We pay fair” seal of approval. In addition, we develop our employees with training and personal development opportunities and contribute to their health and well-being with ergonomically designed workstations.
Customers and partners
We attach great importance to long-term and sustainable relationships with our customers and partners, and the figures confirm that our customers are satisfied with us. This is because 99% of our affiliates have remained loyal to us in 2022 – as they had done in previous years. This motivates us to do all we can to keep this up.
Considering future generations
As a pension fund, we ensure that pension benefits are guaranteed not only for today’s pensioners but also for future generations – and that one can avoid any redistribution between employees and pensioners as far as possible. It is precisely for this reason that in 2015 we began to moderately reduce the conversion rate.
Digitalisation
In addition to existing measures – promotion of public transport and the sourcing of all electricity from renewable energies – we are making a further move to preserve resources through consistent digitalisation.
As of 1 January 2021, 80 percent of our customers were able to migrate to our new management system. These companies, insured persons and partners now have access to our new insurance portal "ProfondConnect". Digitalisation enables them to interact with us more efficiently and we can carry out our internal processes more cost-effectively. These customers benefit directly from this. Since then they have saved up to 25 percent of their contributions to administrative expenses. We also send out our documents, wherever possible, directly via the portal and accept the return of almost all documents electronically. This makes our work even more sustainable through the noticeable reduction in paper and printed matter.
Strategy, structure, culture
Success is not something that just happens by chance, it essentially depends on strategy, structure, culture and shared values. That is why we specifically define our strategy every three years. However, both our strategy and our structure are not rigid, instead we take an agile approach and adapt to the changing market conditions. Sustainability is anchored both in strategy and in corporate culture. For us this includes the fact that equality of wage and opportunity with regard to age and gender are a matter of course, that we maintain high ethical standards, good governance and exemplary risk management.
As a member of the Swiss Pension Fund Association ASIP, we also require that our partners in the asset management business comply with its code of conduct (ASIP Charter).