Beneficiaries' Attitude towards Sustainable Investments of their Pension Fund

Abstract

Public awareness of ESG issues is growing and leads to discussions among these topics. Financial institutions are urged from diverse stakeholders to invest in sustainable products, especially as the financial sector plays a key role within the economy. Society and politics increasingly request sustainable behaviour of Swiss pension funds in the near future. Consequently, Swiss pension funds have already begun to give more attention to the environmental and social behaviour of the companies in which they invest. The retirement capital that is aggregated and managed by Swiss pension funds is owned by their beneficiaries. In contrast to the investment process of private savings, however, beneficiaries cannot directly decide about the investment strategy of this capital. Thus, it is of high importance for Swiss pension funds to understand the preferred investment approach of their beneficiaries and to know whether sustainable efforts are desired and valued.