FAQ

In legal terms, the service offered is wealth management under the Financial Services Act (FinSA). You grant finpension a power of attorney to invest and manage the assets you transfer to finpension in securities per your wishes. Further information on the characteristics and functioning of wealth management by finpension can be found in the sample wealth management mandate available on the website.

You can expect a tax-optimized and cost-effective investment of your assets from the service we offer. We focus on the passive management of your investment strategies and mainly use ETFs (except for private markets). The investment strategies offer good growth opportunities while at the same time minimizing risk. In addition, we allow you to adjust your investment strategy and define the allocation yourself.

You should not expect finpension to have sold your investments if there has been a price correction on the stock markets. We are convinced that it is not possible to predict price corrections and repeatedly achieve an additional return in the long term through active management. With our wealth management service, we offer an easily accessible and transparent investment solution that will bring you added value in the long term thanks to low costs and tax optimization.

finpension is a passive wealth manager. We do not actively intervene in the allocation of your investment strategy, as an active intervention only rarely generates an additional return. In most cases, active management does exactly the opposite. For this reason, finpension focuses on passive investment strategies consisting primarily of ETFs (except for private markets). In addition, we offer our clients the opportunity to customize their investment strategy and define the allocation themselves.

We can offer wealth management at a much lower cost because our processes and procedures are largely automated, which not only leads to a more efficient way of working but also to better internal risk control. In addition, finpension does not maintain physical branches. Finally, the use of cost-effective and tax-optimized investment products results in a significantly more attractive offering than that of established banks and traditional wealth managers.

The finpension app guides you through the registration process and supports you in choosing the right investment strategy. Most finpension customers open their accounts themselves and are delighted how easy it is to invest wealth with finpension or to build it up with a savings plan.

If you still have questions or are unsure, we will be happy to help you personally via chat or by telephone. However, we do not offer traditional, physical investment advice.

You can open your first portfolio either by first downloading the app to your smartphone and starting the registration process after installing the app or by registering directly via the web app.

Existing customers can easily add the investment solution in the app. To do this, log in to the app and click on «+ Add product» on the dashboard.

No, there is no minimum contract period, nor are you obliged to deposit a certain amount. You can even delete the product you have opened yourself after registering in your profile if you are not convinced by the offer after opening it.

No. You can decide for yourself at any time when and how much you want to pay in.

To open an initial portfolio, you must be a resident of Switzerland. You must also be liable for tax in Switzerland and not be subject to unlimited tax liability in any other country. Partial tax liability (e.g. due to property ownership abroad) is possible, but unlimited tax liability must be limited to Switzerland. Furthermore, you must be at least 18 years old and must not be a US person.

18 years old

Yes, if you are resident of Switzerland and are subject to unlimited tax liability exclusively in Switzerland, you can also open a securities portfolio with finpension with another passport.

The ID check takes a maximum of twelve hours (weekdays). As soon as the process is complete, you will be informed immediately by e-mail.

It is currently not possible for you to continue using the finpension investment solution if you move abroad. However, we are working intensively on a solution so that you do not have to liquidate your securities when you move abroad.

No, for legal reasons we cannot offer this service to people residing abroad.

No, for legal reasons we cannot offer the US Persons investment solution. During registration, you must confirm that you are not a US person.

It must be your own money. You must be the sole beneficial owner of the assets that you transfer to finpension. This means that you may not transfer money from someone else to one of your portfolios at finpension and invest it in your name.

If you would like to avoid temporary price fluctuations as far as possible, we recommend that you choose the money market strategy. This invests in the following funds:

• Pictet CH-Short-Term Money Market CHF

As we are and wish to remain independent of banks, we cannot offer you a traditional account solution.

No, we do not offer joint portfolios.

Please note that you may not invest money with finpension that belongs to another person, including money belonging to your partner. You must be the sole beneficial owner of the assets you invest with finpension.

Yes, if you want to invest money for your children, we recommend that you add a note to the portfolio (via the context menu / the three dots on the portfolio). In this case, the money remains yours and you can continue to dispose of it freely.

No, there is no alternative to digital ID verification. Please contact us if you have any difficulties with online identification. We will be happy to help you.

As part of the registration process, we will ask you a few questions about your financial situation, your knowledge of financial investments and the wealth management service, and your investment horizon. Based on your answers, we will calculate how much risk you can take, and which investment strategies suit you accordingly.

You can change the investment strategy at any time without finpension charging a fee. The investment strategy will be implemented on the next trading day following the change to the investment strategy (rebalancing).

Yes, this is possible by selecting the «Self Select» strategy selection mode and then the «Self-determined» focus. With this investment focus, you can put together your own investment strategy from scratch within your risk profile.

Yes, a savings plan is possible and just the right thing for long-term wealth accumulation. You set up a savings plan by entering a standing order with your bank and regularly transferring money to your portfolio. As part of the weekly rebalancing, the regular transfers are then automatically invested in your chosen investment strategy.

Experience shows that it is better to think long-term and invest regularly rather than waiting for the perfect time.

On a separate page, we show you how you can invest in private market investments and what you need to bear in mind. For example, private market strategies are only accessible to people with a very high-risk tolerance.

This is because you do not have a very high-risk capacity. Private market investments are only accessible to people with a very high-risk capacity. Other people don’t see the investment focus.

No, this is not possible. If you have not answered the questions on private markets correctly, please contact us. We will be happy to go through the questions with you again to clear up any ambiguities.

No, with finpension you cannot invest in individual securities. Experience shows that it is better in the long term to invest in a broadly diversified portfolio, for which the funds, on offer, are better suited.

Yes, some of the funds are distributing dividends. In this case, the distributions are credited to your account with finpension and automatically reinvested in your chosen investment strategy through rebalancing.

All available investment funds that you can use as part of your own investment strategy are listed on a separate page.

By making a transfer from a Swiss bank account in your name.

No, you must pay in from an account that is exclusively in your name.

Click on the «DEPOSIT» button on the portfolio to see the payment instructions. Please note that each portfolio has a different reference number.

Your deposit will be invested in your chosen investment strategy on the next trading day after the deposit has been credited. The trading day is the second bank working day of the week.

No, there is no minimum investment amount. You can start with finpension from as little as one franc.

Yes, this is possible. Click the «PAY» button on the desired portfolio to see the payment instruction.

No, cash deposits are not possible with finpension.

No, with finpension there is no obligation to make regular deposits. You can decide for yourself at any time whether and how much you want to pay.

To build up your assets, we recommend that you make regular deposits with a standing order (savings plan). Regular payments help you to stick to an investment goal in a disciplined manner.

If you have liquid funds, you can either transfer everything at once or make regular transfers to build up the desired investment amount in stages. The latter has the advantage that you achieve an average purchase price.

If you wish to transfer existing securities assets to finpension, it is advisable to reinvest the entire amount immediately to minimize the period during which you are not invested.

You can continue the investment strategy in the investment solution. For tax reasons, however, we use different funds for unrestricted assets than for pensions.

As finpension uses genuine pension funds in its pension provision, which can reclaim taxes on foreign dividends, these cannot be transferred to the investment solution.

Please note that pension funds from other providers cannot be transferred to the investment solution if they are genuine pension funds. If you can transfer pension funds from other providers, these are only pseudo-pension funds.

No, this is currently not possible. As banks often charge high fees for the transfer of securities, it is often not worth transferring securities.

However, we will be happy to look at your individual situation if you believe that a title transfer would be much more favorable for transferring assets to finpension.

finpension does not charge any fees for crediting transfers to your portfolios. However, we cannot say whether your bank charges fees for the transfer.

No, this is not possible. The deposit must be made from a Swiss bank account in your name.

finpension periodically checks whether your investments have moved away from the selected investment strategy. If the investments deviate too much from the investment strategy (deviation greater than one percentage point), a rebalancing is carried out and the investments are realigned to the strategy weightings.

Rebalancing means that the allocation of your portfolio to the various funds is adjusted by restoring the originally selected strategy weightings of the various investment funds. Rebalancing makes sense to maintain your risk level.

On each trading day, we check whether your portfolio needs to be rebalanced. The trading day is the second banking day of the week. The trading frequency is weekly.

Exception «Private Markets»: The subscription of units in private market funds is only possible once a month. Before the end of the subscription period, an extraordinary rebalancing is therefore carried out again for portfolios that have selected a private market strategy.

Your portfolio will only be rebalanced if there is a certain deviation between the strategic weight of a fund and the effective weight (deviation of more than one percentage point).

Yes, rebalancing can be deactivated. If you click on the three dots on the portfolio, a context menu will open where you will see the «Rebalancing» item. You can use this to deactivate rebalancing and reactivate it if you wish.

We always provide you with an e-tax statement for your tax return at the beginning of the year. You can view and download this in the app in the corresponding product under Documents.

No, we do not charge an additional fee for the e-tax statement that you can use for your tax return.

No, we do not offer special tax documents for foreign tax domiciles.

Yes, you can deduct the custody account fee of 0.30 % from your taxable income. However, the wealth management fee of 0.09 % cannot generally be deducted from taxable income.

If you click on the three dots on the desired portfolio, a context menu opens. There you will see the «Enter payment» function.

Withdrawals are only permitted to a verified reference account. A verified reference account is a Swiss bank account that is in your name and from which you have made at least one deposit to a portfolio at finpension. By making a deposit, we can clearly verify you as the account holder.

By restricting withdrawals to a verified reference account, we can increase the security of our investment solution for you (more secure than any e-banking solution). On the other hand, it makes it easier for us to comply with regulatory requirements relating to money laundering.

Yes, you are free to decide how much you want to pay out.

Yes, you can enter a regular payout. The process is as follows:

• A payout order is automatically generated on the 20th of each month.
• The payout leads to a liquidation in the desired amount on the next rebalancing day.
• As soon as the sale of the fund units is completed, the payout is executed, and the amount is transferred to the account you have selected.

Regular payouts end at the latest when the portfolio value reaches zero. No regular payouts are possible for portfolios with private market investments.

A payout can take between two and ten days. This depends on whether fund units must be sold first or not. Fund units are always sold as part of the rebalancing process.

If you click on the three dots on the desired portfolio, a context menu opens. There you can click on «Enter payout» and then enter a complete liquidation or, if the portfolio has already been fully liquidated and paid out, click on «Close portfolio» in the same place.

No, no fees are charged for either deposits or withdrawals.

No, there is no minimum fee.

As your funds are invested in securities, they are not exposed to finpension’ s bankruptcy risk. The securities are merely held in trust by finpension but are not on finpension’ s balance sheet.

Furthermore, cash balances at finpension are protected up to CHF 100,000 by the deposit guarantee, just like at a bank.

Yes, cash balances at finpension AG are protected by the deposit guarantee.

finpension is licensed as an account-holding securities firm and is directly subject to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA.

By restricting withdrawals to a verified reference account, the finpension app is more secure than using e-banking, where payments can also be made to non-verified accounts.

The remuneration to finpension consists of a fee of 0.30 % for general custody account management and a fee of 0.09 % for wealth management.

This breakdown makes it easier for you to deduct the administration costs in your tax return later on. You can deduct the custody account fee in full from your taxable income.

No, the fees are only charged from the time of the first deposit.

No, there is no minimum fee.

The management fee is calculated based on the month-end values.

A quarter of the annual fees is charged to your portfolio each quarter.

The federal turnover tax is a tax that is levied on the purchase or sale of securities such as shares, bonds and funds and must be paid to the Swiss government. It amounts to 0.15% of the transaction value for foreign funds and 0.075% for domestic funds.

finpension does not charge a premium on the exchange rate for foreign currencies. The exchange fee charged by the broker is paid by finpension.

No, no fees are charged for either deposits or withdrawals.

We do not charge an additional fee for the e-tax statement.

We do not charge a fee for US withholding tax reporting.

No, no fees are charged for either deposits or withdrawals.

No, we do not charge any additional fees for the liquidation, balancing or closing of portfolios.