Facts
The Swiss Life Insurance and Annuity Institution (today: Swiss Life) applied to the Federal Office of Private Insurance for approval to introduce a risk premium for the OPA minimum interest guarantee and the OPA conversion rate guarantee in the mandatory occupational pension sector. The Federal Office and the Federal Appeals Commission for Supervision of Private Insurance rejected this, as they were of the opinion that the OPA minimum interest rate and the OPA conversion rate in the mandatory sector could not be covered by additional services from the insured persons. The Federal Supreme Court upheld the administrative court appeal of the Annuity Institution and referred the matter back to the Federal Office of Private Insurance for a new decision.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the levying of additional premiums to finance the OPA minimum interest guarantee and the OPA conversion rate guarantee in the mandatory occupational pension sector is not contrary to the system. Arts. 14 and 15 OPA as well as Arts. 12 and 17(1) OPO 2 concern only the benefit side and not the financing side. If the actually achievable capital returns and the minimum interest rate or the minimum conversion rate diverge significantly in the long term, so that illegal underfunding is threatened, this must be remedied after exhaustion of any reserves by additional revenue, i.e. also by additional premiums.
However, the additional premiums must not be abusive. The insurance supervisory authority must examine whether the appellant has achieved…