Vested benefit accounts cater to the second pillar of the Swiss BVG/LPP social security system. If an employee leaves a company for whatever reason without joining a new employer, the savings held with the pension fund are transferred to a vested benefit account. This serves as a parking lot, where a person's retirement savings capital can be held until they join a new employer.

Apart from the conventional vested benefit accounts, most providers offer securities solutions. Advantage: the return is probably higher than on a conventional account solution. Disadvantage: risk of fluctuations in asset value.

The vested benefit can be split and transferred to no more than two vested benefit institutions. No more than one account may be held with any given institution.

At the death of the account-holder, a lump-sum death benefit is paid. The following persons qualify as beneficiaries, within the meaning of Article 15(1)(b) FZV/OLP, irrespective of inheritance law, in the following order: Surviving spouse or registered partner, children under 18 or until they finish studying or training (but not beyond their 25th birthday), foster children who were dependent upon the deceased if they were under 18 or still studying or in training at his death (but not beyond their 25th birthday). Failing them: Natural persons who were substantially dependent on the account-holder for maintenance, or the person who shared a common life with the account-holder for an uninterrupted period of at least five years immediately prior to the account-holder's death, or who must support one or more of their common children. Failing them: Children who are of age and are no longer at school or in training; Children who have turned 25 (who are over 25). Failing them: the parents; failing them: brothers and sisters Failing them: other legal heirs, excluding public bodies.

Vested benefits are blocked on the account until normal retirement. However, in a few exceptional cases, disbursement is possible earlier: - up to five years before normal retirement age - when a full disability pension is granted - on becoming gainfully self-employed - if the vested termination benefit is less than the account-holder’s personal annual contribution - on leaving Switzerland permanently in accordance with the Act on Vesting in Pension Plans (LFLP/FZG) - to acquire ownership of a residential property for own use. -withdrawals in connection with the encouragement of home ownership

The following funds can be paid in to a vested benefit account: - pension assets held with a pension fund when you leave - vested termination benefits from other vested benefit institutions; - repayment of withdrawals under the encouragement of homeownership scheme from occupational pension provision. - any pension-sharing settlements received following a divorce or the court dissolution of a registered partnership

A vested benefit account may be necessary for different reasons: - temporary break in gainful employment (after a period abroad, during vocational training, unemployment, parental leave, etc.) - self-employment, provided the owner of a sole proprietorship, general partnership or limited partnership is not affiliated to a pension fund - divorce or termination of a registered partnership, provided the spouse who receives a pension-sharing settlement is not a member of a pension fund

An account-holder may, by written notice to the Foundation, specify the proportional distribution among the entitled persons within the individual classes of beneficiary.

Moreover, the account-holder may enlarge the circle of beneficiaries under point 1 by adding beneficiaries from point 2, and the circle of beneficiaries under point 3 by adding beneficiaries from points 4 and 5, or change the order of beneficiaries under points 3 to 5. (Link)
 

On leaving an employer, employees are responsible for arranging their own vested benefit account. If they do not do so within a certain period of time, their retirement savings capital is transferred to the Substitute Occupational Benefit Institution. You can open a vested benefit account with us directly online or, if you need further guidance, contact us for an appointment first.

Owing to price fluctuations, the actual weightings of the securities in the portfolio can deviate from the target weightings indicated in the prescribed investment strategy. If the weighting of an asset class (cash, receivables, equities, real estate, alternative investments) deviates from the target weighting by more than three percentage points, we rebalance the entire portfolio. Investments are bought and sold to restore the target weightings of the individual securities. This procedure is called rebalancing and is carried out at least once a month. No transaction fees are charged for rebalancing.

We attach the utmost importance to the security of the pension assets entrusted to us. Savings deposits are held with selected banks in accordance with statutory requirements and strict guidelines. We ensure broad diversification by distributing pension assets over several banks. This significantly reduces the risk of default or loss for individual account-holders.