In 2015, Liberty Pensions further consolidated its position as a leading independent provider of pension solutions for the Swiss market. With as many as 11,000 account-holders, and pension assets of CHF 1.4 bn (assets on platform), the Liberty pensions platform again recorded strong growth last year. In the future, Liberty intends to continue developing its position as a leading-edge provider of pension services and innovative pension solutions.
According to the provisional figures*, Liberty recorded a net inflow of pension assets of CHF 207 million in 2015 compared with CHF 189 million the prior year. This represents a 17% growth rate. More than a third of this growth was realised in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, underscoring the great potential of this important region. Moreover, thanks to their attractive terms and conditions, both Liberty BVG Collective Foundation and Liberty Flex Invest Foundation (1e) doubled the volumes handled. Thanks to this satisfactory development, the Liberty Group is now one of the largest independent providers on the Swiss market.
Strong partnerships
Liberty's business model, which relies on an open partner and product architecture, fosters cooperation with a large number of consultants, asset managers, custodian banks and providers of collective investment funds. Together with their consultants, clients may participate in the structuring of their pension plans and investment strategies and they may choose their asset manager. Liberty works with well-known Swiss asset management banks and firms (e.g. Lombard Odier, Piguet Galland, Bank Vontobel, Julius Bär, IHAG Privatbank, Albin Kistler or Credit Suisse).
The selected providers, which now account for as many as 140 2nd and 3rd pillar investment products altogether, are transparently presented and can be easily compared on "compare-invest.ch", the investment platform launched last year.
In the short time since it was launched in the 3rd quarter of 2015, the exclusive cooperation arrangement with the Association of Swiss Entrepreneurs for medicine, law and finance has also made a successful contribution to Group results.
A sound Group well-armed for future challenges
In the last decade, the Liberty Group has developed extremely successfully and remains on a solid course of growth. In a market which has been in the process of consolidation for a number of years, Liberty can and will continue to build up its position as an independent pensions platform for the benefit of its clients.
In the future, Liberty shall continue positioning itself as an innovative provider of modern pension services. Living up to its reputation, Liberty launched another novelty on the market this year. Optimising its existing offer of vested benefit and pillar 3a retirement savings account solutions, Liberty has implemented a broad diversification of its fixed-rate savings assets. As a result, the risk of loss and default has been significantly reduced and the preferential treatment of bank credit balances decisively improved.
This year, Liberty will extend its cooperation arrangements to numerous new partners. The planned opening of regional representative offices in Aarau, Winterthur and eastern Switzerland will shorten the pathways to clients and partners.
Strong and sustainable values
The Liberty Group, established in 2005, largely owes its success to its extraordinarily flexible business model which fosters the active involvement of account-holders and partners in the management of their 2nd and 3rd pillar pension assets. The cornerstones of this corporate philosophy are an open modular architecture, client-friendly policies and rigorous revenue and cost controlling.
"We are determined to remain faithful to the deeply-rooted values such as innovative strength, commitment, reliability and loyalty which have made Liberty so successful. We intend to play a significant and constructive role in the pending digitisation and consolidation of the Swiss pensions market. We shall do so by further streamlining our processes and promoting our strong values in cooperation with our clients and partners, helping them in their acquisitions", explains Oliver Bienek, founding partner and CEO of the Liberty Group. Towards its clients and partners, Liberty is committed to preserving and strengthening an effective pension system which recognises and encourages the economic viability of increased participation by all stakeholders.
Key figures
Last year, for a total turnover of CHF 762 million, the Liberty Group and its Foundations realised net inflows of CHF 207 million. In 2015, Liberty processed 76 pension fund affiliations and 3,125 account openings altogether. The average balance per client was about CHF 130,000 and the share of vested benefits and 3a retirement savings assets invested in securities was a high 42%.
Liberty relies on the extensive automation of its processes. Thus, for example, in the framework of its financial technology and digitisation strategy, Liberty is planning to incorporate a state-of-the-art information and data hub designed to significantly simplify and improve data consolidation and exchange. Thanks to the conscientious dedication of its back-office and administrative staff, over 130,000 transactions were processed and verified last year.
Liberty currently employs a staff of 32.5 full-time employees in Switzerland. The number of employees remained stable compared with the prior year.
*updated figures will be published in June 2016.