Statement on media reports on insurance-linked (ILS) investments

We pursue a long-term, sustainable investment strategy in the interests of our pension policyholders. Our goal is to build a robust portfolio with a wide variety of investments that are as uncorrelated as possible. A comparison with the Swiss pension fund market in terms of performance and the associated risks shows that our pension fund has performed well above average over the past almost 15 years. Our investment team carries out its activities strictly in accordance with defined investment processes and guidelines. Investment activities are regularly monitored and controlled.

Financial assets are subject to fluctuations in value. As a pension fund with approximately CHF 17.6 billion in assets, we therefore strive for adequate diversification. Even though the value of the ILS investments alone decreased by around 20% in 2019, we achieved an overall above-average asset performance of 11.3% for our pension policyholders in 2019. We will also be able to report excellent performance for the current year (4.4% YTD as of Nov. 30, 2020, incl estimated real estate appreciation), helped by the expected appreciation of our ILS investments by over 10% this year. The decision to discontinue this exposure was made in the best long-term interest of our policyholders. This applies to all decisions taken for the Pension Fund.