Swiss pension funds are set to return 7.7% on average over the course of 2014, according to the latest Credit Suisse Pensionskassen Index.

Credit Suisse’s estimate is considerably lower than that of Towers Watson, which, on behalf of the Swiss pension fund association ASIP, recently estimated a 10% average return.

As a sample, Credit Suisse – as well as UBS – used Pensionskassen that have mandated the banks as global custodians.

As of the end of November 2014, UBS estimated a 7% return for Pensionskassen in Switzerland, based on returns after the first 11 months having amounted to 6.98%.

It said this would be the second highest return over the last five years, with 2012 having produced similar results at 7%, after a record high of 10.6% in 2009.

Based on the Credit Suisse Index, the 7.73% anticipated return would also mark the best average performance for Swiss schemes since 2009.

In a statement, it noted that all asset classes, except liquidity (-0.51%), contributed positively to the 2014 annual result.

The main positive contributors were foreign equities (2.53%), Swiss equities (1.6%), Swiss bonds (1.46%), real estate (1.43%) and non-CHF bonds (0.85%).

The annualised return of the Credit Suisse Pensionskassen Index since 2000 now stands at 2.84% – for the first time since the financial crisis, slightly higher than the annualised legal minimum interest rate of 2.56% that Pensionskassen must grant. 

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