# Etablissement Cantonal d'Assurance

Etablissement Cantonal d'Assurance is an Insurance based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Insurance
- **Headquarters:** Lausanne, Switzerland
- **Region:** Europe
- **Address:** Avenue du Grey 111, 1018 Lausanne, Switzerland
- **Founded:** 1811
- **Assets under management:** CHF 1.45 Bn
- **Website:** eca-vaud.ch
- **LinkedIn:** linkedin.com/company/etablissement-cantonal-d'assurances-et-de-prévention-ecap-

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

ECA is the cantonal building insurer for the State of Vaud, founded as a public-law establishment. It operates under a dual mandate: providing mandatory fire and natural-elements insurance to property owners in the canton, and managing the resulting capital pool. The institution is overseen by President of the Board Aimé Achard and Director General Serge Depallens. Its public-law status means the Canton of Vaud ultimately stands behind it, giving ECA a balance sheet that functions with sovereign-like permanence. ECA runs a two-book portfolio. The bulk of its directly owned assets sits in a concentrated Swiss real estate portfolio that includes Lausanne landmarks like the mixed-use Le Mirage in Pully and La Cité development, alongside residential holdings in Bex and Château-d'Oex. On the liquid side, ECA allocates across Swiss equities, Swiss bonds, and a global equity mandate. Through the Union intercantonale de réassurance (UIR), ECA pools and transfers catastrophic risk with other cantonal insurers, a structural backstop that protects the portfolio from large single-event insurance losses. The institution participates in industry-wide collaboration through the Association des établissements cantonaux d'assurance (AECA), the umbrella body for all 18 Swiss cantonal insurers. On the stewardship side, ECA has been a member of the Ethos Engagement Pool Switzerland since 2015, pooling its voice with other Swiss institutional investors to press portfolio companies on ESG matters. The firm also maintains a tie to the Swiss private-markets community through its membership in the Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association (SECA). ECA's structural differentiator is its public-law DNA. It is not a profit-maximizing insurer but a state-mandated monopoly for building insurance in Vaud, operating without shareholder pressure. That architecture lets it hold real estate indefinitely and ride through market cycles that would force a publicly listed insurer to de-risk. The associated Fondation de prévention des établissements cantonaux d'assurance (FP) channels part of the system's surplus into prevention work, separating the asset-management function from a dedicated philanthropic vehicle.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- Infrastructure
- Private Equity

## People

- Serge Depallens — Director General
- Aimé Achard — President of the Board of Directors

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at ECA Vaud?

Director General Serge Depallens leads the institution's management, with oversight from President of the Board Aimé Achard. ECA's investment function sits inside the insurer rather than in a separate entity, so the senior management team running the building-insurance mandate also stewards the balance-sheet portfolio. The Canton of Vaud exercises ultimate control through its role as the public-law guarantor.

### How is ECA Vaud different from a private insurance company?

ECA is a public-law institution with a state-granted monopoly on building insurance in the Canton of Vaud. It does not answer to shareholders or quarterly earnings pressure. Its capital base effectively behaves like sovereign-backed permanent capital, enabling the firm to hold real estate indefinitely and manage liquidity without the regulatory capital constraints that bind listed insurers.

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Last updated: 2026-07-08T21:53:50.013Z

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