Sammelstiftung Vita

Vita runs a career-average defined-benefit plan as its primary pension promise, supplemented by a cash-balance component that functions like an individual savings account with guaranteed interest credits. Zurich Life Insurance Company Ltd, as founder and risk carrier, underwrites the pooled death and disability risks for all affiliated employers. This structure allows small and medium-sized Swiss enterprises to offer robust pension benefits without carrying biometric risk on their own balance sheets.

Markus Leuthard serves as Chief Investment Officer, responsible for executing the fund's asset allocation strategy across public and private markets. The Investment Committee is chaired by Professor Thorsten Hens, a behavioral finance expert from the University of Zurich, providing independent academic rigor to portfolio decisions. The Foundation Board, chaired by Peter E. Naegeli, retains ultimate fiduciary oversight.

Property is a meaningful allocation for Vita, consistent with Swiss pension norms. The fund holds direct residential developments in Wetzikon, St. Gallen, Winterthur, and Bazenheid, including a dedicated senior housing project in Bazenheid. Additional indirect exposure comes via the AXA Real Estate Fund Switzerland and the Zürich Anlagestiftung Immobilien Portfolio, the latter extending the real-asset footprint into international markets.

Vita became a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment in 2021, signalling a formal commitment to ESG integration across its portfolio. The fund is also a member of Swiss Sustainable Finance and the UN-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, with a stated target of achieving net-zero portfolio emissions by 2050. These memberships reflect the fund's alignment with Switzerland's broader regulatory and fiduciary trajectory on climate risk.

Zurich Life Insurance Company Ltd founded Sammelstiftung Vita and serves as the risk carrier for all death and disability benefits across the pool. This means investment strategy at Vita operates independently from insurance underwriting, but the biometric liabilities are professionally priced, reserved, and offloaded — giving the investment team a cleaner asset-liability matching mandate than a self-insured pension fund would carry.