9 Defined benefit plans

The majority of employees in Switzerland are insured under the Swisscom pension plan against the risks of old age, death and disability. The pension plan is implemented by the comPlan foundation. The supreme governing body of the pension fund is the Foundation Council, which is made up of an equal number of representatives from the employees and the employer. The pension fund rules, together with the legal provisions concerning occupational pension plans, constitute the formal regulatory framework of the pension plan.

The Foundation Board of comPlan approved various changes to the pension plan in the second quarter of 2021. The main changes include a reduction in conversion rates, compensatory measures to cushion pension cuts and a reduction in entitlements for current spouse’s and partner’s pensions. The various measures resulted in a gain of CHF 60 million, which was recognised as a reduction of pension liabilities in the second quarter of 2021. This was based on a remeasurement of the net defined benefit obligation using the current fair values of plan assets at the inception of the plan amendment and current actuarial assumptions, taking into account the risk-sharing characteristics.