"Conventional pension administration is a saturated market" The number of occupational benefits institutions in Switzerland is steadily falling. To survive, providers must adapt. Liberty Pension Ltd is a good example. Through digitisation and innovative business development, it is shaking up the market.

In an interview with "vorsorgeexperten.ch", Oliver Bienek, CEO of Liberty Pension Ltd explains how Liberty is preparing for the challenges.

Mr Bienek, how was the 2017 business year?

We are satisfied with the 2017 financial results. Liberty managed to grow its "assets on platform" beyond the CHF 2 billion mark. In the process, the number of our affiliated companies and clients rose steeply. The investment products with a 45% equities content offered on the Liberty platform realised an average performance of 9.4%, while the average performance of Liberty's BVG/LPP collective foundation investment pools was 6.4%. Thanks to our knowhow, compare-invest.ch platform and “focus” fact-sheet initiative, we managed to increase security penetration from 44% to an exceptional 54%.

What were your main challenges in 2017?

The next five to six years harbour major challenges for occupational benefits institutions. We too must prepare. That is why we are redirecting our resources towards tasks like digitisation, and towards developing and implementing business innovations. Paving the way for this course was one of Liberty's major challenges in 2017. At the same time, we had to digest 25% growth.

Are you looking to reduce your conventional administration activities and transform Liberty into a consultant and operator of digital platforms?

The number of conventional occupational benefits institutions serving SMEs is falling each year. Today, the SME pension provision business is distributed among a handful of large insurers and collective investment foundations. Conventional pension administration is a saturated market. For smaller pension funds or multi-employer foundations with less than CHF 500 million in pension assets, it makes no sense to pursue a solo effort. The administrative costs, which are borne by the insured after all, are simply too high.

What are the alternative solutions?

Liberty sees significant potential and synergies in pooling forces. We specialise in the operation of open platforms for 2nd and 3rd pillar schemes, and can offer customised services covering practically the whole supply chain. Despite rising demand for digitised administration, consulting and client services in the advisory-intensive 1e and asset management areas is now growing. We shall continue to cultivate and develop our core business on which our reputation stands and where we have long been among the market leaders. But we must also look to the future, and continue to modernise our business model, offer and organisation.

You claim to be the only independent pension platform in Switzerland. Is that true?

Competitors may call themselves "independent", but in actual fact they all belong to banks or insurance companies whose primary interest is to sell their own products. This automatically tarnishes the "independence" halo for everyone.

But not for Liberty?

We are a family-owned company and do not particularly profit from the sale of one product rather than another. For us, independence is synonymous with neutrality, and vice versa. As a full service company for occupational and tied pension benefits in Switzerland, we offer the broadest range of pension, investment and reinsurance products in the country, in four languages and with a transparent fee structure. This diversity alone makes us the largest, and to date the only, independent provider in Switzerland.

What distinguishes Liberty from traditional providers?

Liberty is driven by the dedication and commitment of all 60 of its employees, and by their outstanding client and partner focus. The cooperation with AXA in the 1e business, of which we are extremely proud, is a great recognition of our achievements. We are admired and respected by the competition for our commitment and growth. This is a source of pride, and releases new energy to overcome future hurdles.

What characterises your platform?

Our platform covers the whole 2nd and 3rd pillar supply chain. Our special strengths lie in the investment area. Here, as you can see from our account solutions, security and risk diversification play a major role. These values are deeply rooted in our corporate DNA.

In addition to our usual partners, now vested benefit institutions, 3a occupational benefit foundations and 1e management foundations can also join the platform directly thanks to its scalable, modular architecture, and our integrated white label offer and interface solutions. Our cooperation partners retain sovereign control of the foundation, client relationship, chosen product range and asset management. Liberty handles the rest. Additional services such as operational and consulting support, or platforms like compare-invest.ch or unternehmerverband.ch can be included on request in the proposed services.

What more can your partners expect from you?

We are in the process of implementing online strategies and additional business initiatives to position ourselves and our partners on this important market. For example, we can now take over groups of pensioners from small and medium-sized pension funds and offer them interesting prospects at reasonable conditions.

What are your expectations for the 2018 pension year?

Liberty has again set itself ambitious targets for 2018. We expect to maintain 25% growth. The security penetration rate should continue to progress to an expected 65%. This makes us significantly less dependent on our traditional account-based business.

Thanks to strong partnerships with the likes of AXA, Lombard Odier, Piguet Galland, Albin Kistler, LGT Bank (Schweiz) AG and UBS, we shall continue growing our 1e-management solutions business. Moreover, we are planning to take over a first group of pensioners from a small pension fund. Simultaneously, we are proceeding with digitisation, and further developing our online platforms.

Where do you see Liberty in the coming 3 to 5 years?

We wish to be recognised on the pension market as a digital provider and a "House of Brands". Thanks to our modular and needs-driven platforms, we cover the whole supply chain with a highly diversified offer of products which we distribute on the Swiss market in cooperation with strong partners. Additional services such as management and entrepreneurial schemes for trade associations, 1st pillar and payroll accounting, proposals for senior citizens and clever tools may soon also play an important role.

Thank you for the interview.