SWITZERLAND - Assets held by Swiss pension funds totalled CHF542.6bn (€332.7bn) at the end of 2005, up 12% from the end of 2004 and 30% from the end of 2002, new figures from the Swiss finance ministry show.

Figures for schemes' total assets according to investment type reveal the equity exposure for Swiss pension funds was 28% in 2005 against 27% in 2004, while fixed income exposure stood at 37% in 2005 versus 36% in 2004.

Analysis of other asset classes indicates Swiss pension funds also had 14% of assets in real estate in 2005 - unchanged from 2004 - while their exposure to alternatives, meanwhile, increased to 3.6% in 2005 from 2.7% in 2004.
 
Two other noteworthy allocations for Swiss pension funds during 2005 were mortgage loans (3% of assets) and 2.7% in "investments with company-backers".

The finance ministry counted 2770 Swiss pension funds in 2005, down from 2935 in 2004, and the number of Swiss insurers stood at 263 in 2005.

Total assets of Swiss insurers - a good deal of which is pensions money - were also put at CHF545.7bn in 2005, up almost 7% on the previous year.

Swiss insurers' had 22% of assets in equities in 2005, along with 44% in fixed income, 6.7% in direct real estate investments, 5% in mortgage loans while the remaining 21% of insurers' assets was held in undisclosed "other investments".