Stefan Beiner, head of asset management and deputy director of Publica, one of Switzerland’s largest pension funds with CHF40.5bn (€43.2bn) in total assets, is joining consultancy c-alm in spring next year.
Beiner will remain in his role at Publica until the end of February or end of March 2025, joining c-alm either at the beginning of March or April next year, c-alm told IPE.
He leaves Publica after 16 years to move to c-alm as a partner, the consultancy added.
At c-alm, Beiner will focus on investment consulting and controlling, and assets and liability management (ALM) services.
“Beiner will strengthen our investment consulting and ALM services. We combine actuarial knowledge with investment consulting. Coming from one of the largest institutional investors in Switzerland and internationally, he will add hands-on buy-side experience to our capabilities,” Ueli Mettler, partner at c-alm, told IPE.
The consultancy considers Publica’s chief investment officer as “a person of integrity with great knowledge and practical experience” gained working many years for one of the largest pension funds in Switzerland, it added.
One of the latest important decisions taken by Beiner at Publica was to change the strategic asset allocation of the scheme, shifting away from fixed income to invest in real assets, including in the new asset class infrastructure private equity.
C-alm wants to cement its role as an independent consulting company for Swiss pension funds, in a competitive market with large players including PPCmetrics and Complementa, recently acquired by Zürcher Kantonalbank, the largest cantonal bank in Switzerland, to build up custody and investment reporting services for institutional investors.
“Switzerland will remain an important market for c-alm; we want to increase the market share for our investment consulting and investment controlling services,” Mettler added.
However, in the future, with Beiner on board, the consultancy will adopt a proactive approach to reply to demands from institutional investors internationally, without completely reworking its strategy focusing on the Swiss market.
C-alm offers investment consulting and controlling services since 2010.
The studies conducted for the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) and the Occupational Pension Supervisory Commission (OAK BV) on pension funds’ asset management costs gave both visibility and credibility to c-alm to offer independent investment consulting and controlling services and gain market share, Mettler said.
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