Article 111 of the Federal Constitution provides for a three pillar system of old-age, disability and survivor protection consisting of:
Occupational Pension Schemes under The BVV
- Pillar 1: a federal basic insurance scheme and
- Pillar 2: Mandatory occupational plans; and
- Pillar 3: Voluntary provision for old age.
Occupational Pension Schemes come under Pillars 2 and 3 schemes and are classified as:
- BVV2 Occupational Pensions (Vorsorgeeinrichtung); and
- Swiss Investment Foundation (Anlagestiftung)
List of Investment Foundations
A list of investment foundations currently supervised by the OPSC can be found on the OPSC website.
BVV2 Investment Rules
The aim of the BVV 2 is to prevent the concentration of risks in single investment classes and to allow international diversification of pension fund investments.
A summary of the investment rules is below:
**CUSTOM TABLE – MICHAEL**
Derivatives
Click here for more details on The Fachempfehlung (1996) and the treatment of derivatives for occupational pension schemes.
BVV2 Amendments
As set out above, the BVV Guidelines has a 15% limit for alternative investments.
The BVV2 Guidelines for foundations and pension funds came into force on January 1, 2015. Whilst that 15% limit doesn’t change, there are important amendments, including in the definition of “Alternative Debt.” The changes made necessitated pension funds and investment foundation to adjust their asset investments by the end of 2014.
Click here for more details of BBV2 and the Amendment made.