Mobiliar's asset‑management chief Michael Christen said the insurer's first‑half‑year profit rose 77% to 474 million Swiss francs, a result he attributed to both the firm's long‑term asset allocation and exceptional market effects.
The company follows a risk‑oriented, broadly diversified allocation that includes a relatively high share of real assets compared with peers. Exceptional realisation gains stemmed from a gold rebalancing and the initial public offering of the MobiFonds Swiss Property, which added profit but are not expected to recur at the same level each year.
The property‑fund listing also delivered liquidity, visibility and flexibility for the fund, although the associated gains are treated as a special, non‑recurring effect.
Within six months the total capital under management grew about 5% to 24.1 billion francs, while Mobiliar as a whole manages roughly 30 billion francs. New capital is allocated according to the strategic asset mix, with continued emphasis on equities and gold and a modest increase in bonds and alternative assets.
Christen highlighted the cooperative ownership structure as a source of freedom to pursue a long‑term horizon without quarterly dividend or share‑buyback pressures. This permits the firm to hold assets for extended periods and avoid short‑term market forecasts.
The equity portion sits at roughly 14% of the portfolio, heavily weighted toward U.S. stocks. Because the index composition includes many technology firms, Mobiliar has benefited from the recent AI‑driven market rally. While the concentration in large‑cap tech is closely monitored, the firm does not plan to underweight the sector unless valuations become unjustified.
On the commodity side, gold has performed strongly, but the insurer does not consider digital currencies a viable asset class. Bitcoin was mentioned as the most plausible digital token, yet Mobiliar has never taken a serious position in it, citing high speculation and volatility.
The long‑term perspective also shapes the firm’s response to geopolitical risk. Christen described such risks as asymmetric – low probability of severe escalation but potentially large market impact – and said they do not trigger automatic reductions in equity exposure.
Active management remains central to Mobiliar’s risk framework. The insurer manages real estate internally and runs a largely active approach to equities and bonds, allowing it to adjust sector exposure when risk assessments change, even as passive investing gains market share.
In market downturns the firm employs an anti‑cyclical rebalancing rule: if equities fall, the portfolio’s equity weight drops and the manager buys, while strong equity or gold rallies trigger sales, leveraging the long horizon to stay invested through cycles.
