How sustainably do Swiss pension funds invest our retirement savings? And how do things stand in other countries? With Swiss voters due to decide on banning arms industry investments, swissinfo.ch takes a closer look at current practices. When Switzerland votes later this month on whether to ban the financing of companies that produce war materiel, pension funds will be keeping a close eye on the polls. As some of the country’s biggest investors, with assets of around one trillion Swiss francs ($1.1 trillion), they would be particularly affected by a “yes” vote – as would thousands of policy-holders, whose savings are partly invested in occupational pensions. What is the initiative about? The people’s initiative to prohibit investments in the producers of war materiel seeks to cut the flow of funding to weapon-manufacturing companies. If the initiative is accepted on November 29, the Swiss National Bank, the state-run Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance, foundations based in...
