Presentation from our December information session

AVENA held an evening information session on Tuesday, 3 December 2024, at Aquatis. Our experts addressed a number of questions, including:

• What will my major expenses be over the next 15 years?
• How large of a pension will I need when I retire? Will my pension benefits enable me to maintain my desired standard of living, as set out in my budget ?
• How do inheritance and tax concerns figure in?
• When should I contact my AVS fund, my employer, and my pension fund?
• What should I do with my pillar 3 accounts

Panelists:
Francis Bouvier, director of AVENA 
Olivier Reymond, pension fund specialist at BCV

Moderator:
Alain Jeannet, former editor-in-chief of L’Hebdo
 

AVENA’s Pension Board has decided to pay an interest rate of 3.25% on all savings capital for 2024. That’s the maximum percentage permitted by law, and it brings our funded status to an estimated 109.4%.

This level of remuneration is significantly higher than the legal minimum (1.25%), and our insured members will see the boost in their retirement savings.

The annual interest paid by the Fund is just the tip of the iceberg – it’s the most visible result of a series of measures underpinning AVENA’s ongoing solidity.

The Pension Board is unanimous in its belief that this strategy will produce better long-term results while safeguarding the Fund’s future.

Watch the video (french) and download the presentation below (english)
AVENA held an evening information session on 5 November 2024 at the Royal Savoy hotel and livestreamed it via LiveChat. Our experts covered a number of topics, including:

•    What is a voluntary contribution and how does it help me?
•    Can I use my pension assets to buy or renovate a home?
•    How does AVENA manage my pension savings? What does the fund invest in?
•    What key information is in my pension statement?
•    When do I have to decide whether I receive my retirement benefits as a lump sum or a monthly pension?

Panelists:
Francis Bouvier, director of AVENA 
Olivier Reymond, pension fund specialist at BCV

Moderator:
Alain Jeannet, former editor-in-chief of L’Hebdo
 

>Delphine Saleres-Deney, CFO, Garden Center Schilliger

Why did you want to join the Pension Board?

First off, I’m deeply invested in the idea of ensuring a stable and secure financial future for the coming generations. And I’m passionate about anything that has to do with social responsibility, sustainable development, and equitable treatment. I saw joining AVENA’s Pension Board as an opportunity to contribute directly to that mission. Drawing on my skills and my 20 years of professional experience, I hope to contribute to the strategic decisions needed to safeguard the future of retirement. I also come with some background in occupational pensions, having served as an employee representative with my previous employer’s pension fund. 

What is your role on the Board?

Besides participating in Board meetings, I sit on the Marketing and Communications Committee and the Real Estate Committee. One of my responsibilities as a Board member is to help develop and oversee the investment policy, ensuring that it’s in line with the Fund’s long-term goals. In addition, I’m involved in assessing risks and opportunities and in monitoring the overall performance of the Fund’s investments. In that capacity, I work to represent the interests of all of our members and to ensure everyone enjoys equal treatment.

What challenges is the Board facing right now?

One of our major challenges will be navigating an investment environment that’s constantly changing – identifying and seizing opportunities while also mitigating risks. In that regard, I’m particularly mindful of the policy we’ve adopted with regard to responsible investing and, in particular, to the incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in the Fund’s investments. We’ll also need to remain vigilant because of economic and regulatory challenges on the horizon that could affect AVENA’s financial stability. I’ll give you an example: real estate. We need to ensure that our real-estate portfolio is in line with our sustainability commitments and that it complies with the law – which continues to evolve.

Where do you see AVENA in ten years?

In ten years, I see AVENA as a leader in the occupational pension sector, as a pension fund known for its careful, innovative investment management as well as for its solid performance. That’s why it’s so important to implement a responsible investment strategy today – so that we can safeguard the future of tomorrow’s retirees. I’m also convinced that we will have continued to expand our sphere of influence and our impact by offering high-quality pension solutions to a growing number of members.

The Swiss Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) has published its occupational pension reference figures for 2025.
These figures are shown in the table below.

➔ Learn more (french)

AVENA’s “2025 key occupational pension figures” card is now available.
You can order this card, which comes in credit-card format, using the form below.
In the message line, please write “order for AVENA card” and put the delivery address and quantity desired.

info@lpp-avena.ch
 

> Bruno Chappuis, Senior Sports Rights Manager, European Broadcasting Union (EBU)

Why did you want to join the Pension Board?
Because of my professional history in occupational pensions – for example, I worked for PPCmetrics, a consulting firm for institutional and private investors. It seemed natural to get involved in the EBU’s pension fund, which I did in 2017. When we decided to join AVENA, in September 2019, it was important to me that I contribute actively to overseeing our Fund, to bring my experience to bear, and to ensure the EBU was represented on the Pension Board.

What is your role on the Board?
After I was elected, I was encouraged to join the Marketing and Communications Committee in light of the field I work in. I took over as chair of the committee in May, when my predecessor, François Pugliese, became the president of the Vaud Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CVCI). Because I had worked for several years in occupational pensions, I also joined the Investment Committee. I also serve as deputy chair of the Pension Board, representing employees. 

What challenges is the Board facing right now?
I would point to two. The first is about communication. The occupational pension system was created by specialists for specialists, and the messaging can be very (sometimes excessively) technical. We need to inform our members about the importance of occupational pensions by communicating more clearly. That includes taking advantage of new communication channels. It’s quite surprising that only 25% of members were registered with AVENA’s secure digital platform in January 2024. We’re fortunate to have a very solid three-pillar system in Switzerland. But we really need to customize our digital communications, by adapting our messaging to individual needs. It’s like sports broadcasting: it’s not enough today to simply air a sporting event – you have to make it more interactive by adding custom content on social media. The second challenge is linked to the first: we need to bolster the public’s confidence in the pension system by transparently showing how solid it is. That means striving for more open communications.

Where do you see AVENA in ten years?
Intercantonal, digital, and multiservice. We can use this communications strategy to attract not just more members but also more resources and more professionals with a strong digital skillset. AVENA could be one of the main players in occupational pensions in French-speaking Switzerland and Switzerland as a whole. We have the opportunity to build on the strong foundation of BCV, which, as a universal bank, brings together a number of different specializations that can help us meet our members’ needs and expectations. I think that AVENA will not only provide services related to occupational pensions – I think it will become a one-stop shop for other retirement-planning services as well, such as financial planning and tax advice. To ensure our members feel involved, they will need access to the full range of those services.

>Sylvain Rochat, Director, Certified Tax Expert, Hervest Fiduciaire SA

Why did you want to join the Pension Board?
I wanted to invest my energies in our pension fund, contribute to decision-making, and have a real influence on the future of occupational pensions in our company. I also wanted to learn firsthand how a pension fund works. Even though retirement is a ways off for me – I’ll be turning 33 this year – I feel personally invested in the future of our occupational pension system. In fact, because I’m still relatively young it feels all the more pressing.

What is your role on the Board?
I sit on three committees: Governance, Real Estate, and Audit. On the Governance Committee, we make big decisions on how the Fund is run. The Real Estate Committee is involved in the planning and high-level management of our real-estate portfolio. And the Audit Committee meets with the auditor when the Fund’s accounts are reviewed. I participate in the meetings of these committees as well as those of the Pension Board.

What challenges is the Board facing right now?
We have a number of challenges ahead of us. We need to ensure that the Fund’s capital keeps generating solid returns, and we have to fine-tune the conversion rate for pensions in step with changing life expectancies while also protecting the interests of our members with less retirement savings. We also need to pay out the best possible interest rate on working members’ retirement savings while maintaining a solid coverage ratio for the Fund. That’s essential for ensuring that the retirement system continues to work, especially for the youngest members, who may be skeptical. I also recognize that we need to raise awareness among our members and those around us about topics related to retirement planning.

Where do you see AVENA in ten years?
I want to see AVENA continue to increase its membership so we can maintain the Fund’s financial health. Also, as a member of the Real Estate Committee, I hope that AVENA will have the opportunity to further build out its portfolio of income-generating real estate in order to diversify its property holdings, which, compared to more-volatile investments in the financial markets, will bolster its financial stability.

Have a look at our 2023 Annual Report.

What’s inside: 

• Message from the Chair of the Pension Board
• The Fund at a glance
  
  Governance
• The Pension Board
• Pension Board elections
• Interview with the new Pension Board members
  
  Sustainability and the environment
• AVENA’s portfolio
• 2023 economic overview
  
  Fund update
• Fund members 
• Information sessions for insured members
• Biennial Conference
  
   
• Key figures
• Fund holdings
• Balance sheet
• Income statement

Enjoy!