Securities savings

With securities savings, part or all of your pension assets are invested in investment groups or retirement funds. These groups are subject to the strict rules and regulations set down in Art. 53 et seq. of the Ordinance on Occupational Old-Age, Survivors' and Invalidity Pension Provision – also known as OPO 2. Securities savings is an attractive alternative to nominal-value investments and offers the opportunity to earn higher returns.

There is a number of investment groups of the Swisscanto Investment Foundation and, depending on the cantonal bank, several retirement funds, are available.

Consult with your Cantonal Bank advisor to find out which of them is best suited to your situation.

Securities savings is an option available to all policy holders who live in Switzerland. For further details, please consult the Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation’s securities savings regulations, which can be found on our home page under "Legal documents". 

By law, you are obliged to transfer your pension assets to your new employee benefit institution. As that also applies to the
portion of your pension assets invested in securities savings, those assets have to be liquidated before they can be transferred. That is why we recommend securities savings especially in cases where a long investment horizon is likely.

It can potentially increase your investment returns, but also involves price and investment risks. Past performance offers no guarantee of future returns. Your pension advisor at the Cantonal Bank can provide you with detailed advice on this issue.

With securities savings, the foundation charges an annual fee of 0.6% on the account balance. That includes the cost of managing the securities (0.15%) as well as the cost of the services provided by the cantonal banks (0.45%). The fee component for the service of the cantonal bank may vary among the cantonal banks’ retirement funds. These fees are set out in the appendix to the cost regulations.

TER (total expense ratio) costs are debited from each product’s performance. As they are charged directly to the product, they are already deducted from the reported performance.

Your advisor at the Cantonal Bank will perform a risk analysis with you and help you to choose the appropriate investment group.  

In matters related to securities savings, we at the Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation work together with the Swisscanto Investment Foundation one of Switzerland’s largest and best-known investment foundations. Its task is to collectively manage the assets entrusted to it by over 900 Swiss pension funds and employee benefit institutions. Investment foundations form part of the 2nd pillar, meaning that, as an investor, you can rely on their strict compliance with the OPO 2 regulations governing the investment of pension assets.

Some of our partner cantonal banks also offer the possibility of investing in their own retirement funds in the field of securities-based saving. The retirement funds were designed for use in the 2nd pillar, meaning that, as an investor, you can rely on their strict compliance with the OPO 2 regulations governing the investment of pension assets.

In accordance with the statutory investment regulations and the basic principle of security, the Foundation is obliged to ensure the long-term preservation of the pension assets. The selected investment product must therefore correspond to your identified risk capacity. If the investment portfolio does not correspond to the determined risk profile, a resale takes place via the interest-paying cantonal bank.