Principles and Overview

At least one of the eight responsible investment approaches as defined in the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) applies to around 90% of the total assets managed by Swiss Life.

Swiss Life Asset Managers is an asset manager for its own insurance companies as well as for third-party clients such as pension funds, other insurance companies and private investors. As a responsible investor, Swiss Life can make a relevant contribution to the positive development of society and the environment. It does this by reducing risks to society and the environment, taking corresponding measures to manage risk, but also exploiting opportunities and offering its customers appropriate investment products and solutions. The long-term protection of customer funds and the optimal allocation of risk capital are the main objectives. Invested assets must be secure, profitable, and sufficiently liquid overall. Due to the long-term nature of its liabilities, Swiss Life invests predominantly in fixed-income securities such as government and corporate bonds as well as equities, real estate and infrastructure. Its investment decisions have always been informed by a long-term assessment of risks and returns.

To communicate its commitment to responsible investing in a structured way, Swiss Life has formalised its approach to integrating ESG criteria into investment and risk management processes, and is continuing to develop it. The resulting policy on Responsible Investment describes how the different approaches to Responsible Investment in accordance with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) are to be applied, both for proprietary assets and for third-party assets. Overall, at least one Responsible Investment approach according to PRI is applied to about 90% of total assets under management. Further information can be found in the Responsible Investment Policy and in the table below. Swiss Life and all its subsidiaries are fully committed to the PRI and disclose their Responsible Investment activities accordingly. This was recognised, for example, in Swiss Life Asset Manager’s last PRI assessment in the year under review: the “Policy, Governance and Strategy” module was awarded a score of 77% or four stars.

The Responsible Investment Policy is available at www.swisslife-am.com/ri-policy

The PRI Assessment Report is available at www.swisslife-am.com/pri-assessment

Implementation of the PRI approaches in the different asset classes

For the prevention of “greenwashing”, Swiss Life emphasises clear and transparent communication with its stakeholders in which sustainability aspects are addressed. In the case of investment products in particular, it ensures that adequate control mechanisms exist and that definitions are based, where appropriate, on established industry standards. These control mechanisms include, for example, periodic reports depicting the key sustainability aspects of a portfolio and serving as a basis for discussion in certain bodies (e.g. the Risk Committee). The reports and publications of the EU-domiciled ESG and Sustainable Impact funds all comply with the SFDR transparency requirements.

As a major investor, Swiss Life is committed to ensuring that direct investments in its portfolio are in line with the company’s fundamental standards and values. As a signatory to the UN Global Compact, Swiss Life is committed among other things to the fundamental principles for upholding human rights and protecting the environment. Further information on the UN Global Compact can be found in the “Memberships and Ratings” section. In addition, Swiss Life Asset Managers has been a member of the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative since 2022 and submitted its net zero targets in 2023. The targets, which comprise 15% of the total assets under management, are on track to be achieved. In January 2025, NZAM initiated a review of the NZAM initiative. While the review is being carried out, NZAM has temporarily removed its commitment statement, the list of signatories and the targets from its website. Further information on Swiss Life Asset Managers’ NZAM commitment can be found at www.swisslife-am.com/net-zero-asset-managers.