Pensionskasse der Stadt Biel

Pensionskasse der Stadt Biel

Pensionskasse der Stadt Biel was established in 1923 to provide occupational pension benefits — covering old age, death, and disability — for the municipal employees of Biel. It has since extended coverage to 75 affiliated public- and private-law employers, including ESB Energie Service Biel/Bienne and NMB Neues Museum Biel. As of year-end 2025 the fund serves 4,182 active insured members and 2,354 pensioners, generating an 8.50% interest credit on active members' accounts and a 6% pension indexation (per the firm's 2025 annual report, published on its website). The fund constructs its portfolio across a traditional Swiss pension mix: fixed income and listed equities provide the core, while the allocation to direct real estate, infrastructure, and precious metals acts as a diversifier. On the ground, PKBiel is a significant local property owner — its holdings include the Rüschlistrasse 14–16 administrative building, the Champagne high-rise residential tower in Biel, and a building-right parcel (Baurecht EWO) also in the city. It supplements direct property with an infrastructure position spanning global assets and an interest in AP Alternative Portfolio AG, a Swiss private-market vehicle. The fund participates in collective ESG engagement pools through Ethos — both the Switzerland and International programs — and is a signatory to the 2024 Global Investor Statement to Governments on the Climate Crisis (per Altss records). The entire operation runs with a five-person internal team managing administration, member services, and accounting from a single office at Zentralstrasse 32a in Biel. Managing Director Arnaud Cattin leads the group, which includes specialists Lotti Brun del Re, Tatjana Medved, Rut Scirocco, and Sabina Schultz. The fund belongs to ASIP (the Swiss pension association) and has endorsed the Investor Statement on Expectations for the Nursing Home Sector, reflecting a governance posture that ties investment decisions to employer and policy relationships. In December 2025 the fund reported an asset base of CHF 1,231 million and a coverage ratio of 117.40% (per firm website, 2025). The structural differentiator isn't scale — it's concentration. PKBiel runs a closed pension system for Biel's public-service community and a tight circle of mission-aligned employers. That makes it a permanent- capital landlord deeply embedded in its own city's planning and housing dynamics, not a generic allocator competing with Zurich-based multibillion-franc funds. Its ESG posture, executed through collective engagement rather than in-house activism, matches the bandwidth of a five-person team managing a CHF 1.2 billion balance sheet.