Like most occupational benefits institutions in Switzerland, the Fund benefited from the strong rally in equity markets last year, posting a gain of 4.2% in 2025 while its strategic benchmark rose by 5.4%. The Fund therefore underperformed its benchmark by 1.2 points. This was due to the Fund’s illiquid investments, particularly those in unlisted equities (also known as private-equity investments), which did not perform as well as expected in 2025. However, over the long term, returns from the Fund’s investments in unlisted equities, net of fees, have exceeded their targets, and so their inclusion in our investment strategy is justified.
In assessing the Fund’s performance relative to its peers – i.e. other occupational benefits institutions in Switzerland – we use several indices including the peer-group index put together by our investment consultant PPCmetrics: for more information, please see the definitions in the notes to the table below. The Fund underperformed the median return in this peer group by 1.7 points in 2025, mainly because of two asset categories. Firstly, most foreign currencies, and the US dollar in particular, lost ground against the Swiss franc last year. Secondly, private equity produced limited returns, particularly compared with listed equities. Since the Fund’s exposure to these two categories is greater than that of the peer group, this caused the Fund to underperform it last year. Over the last 10 years, however, the Fund has beaten the peer group’s median return. For institutional investors such as the Fund, it is these long-term comparisons which are most relevant.