Several layers in one document
Charges
Identify acquisition, administration, risk, investment, amendment and exit charges. Ask how and for how long they are deducted and how they affect the value after reduction or transfer.
Risks and assumptions
Identify the investment, possible fluctuations, assumptions used and non-guaranteed parts. Compare scenarios built on the same basis and require every assumption to be stated.
Guarantees and cover
A guarantee should be located in the contract with its amount, date and conditions. Separate it from illustrations and read death, disability, premium waiver, exclusions and waiting periods independently.
Clarity test before signing
If an answer cannot be linked to a clause or schedule, request written clarification.
Complete charges
Ask for charges over the term, their deduction method and the effects of interruption, conversion or transfer.
Visible risks
Clarify who bears market risk, which values can fall, which assumptions alter the outcome and which protections are contractual.
Verifiable values
For life insurance, request relevant settlement values at several dates and the review route; for every product, retain the dated document version.
Keep the verified conclusion
Record the date, source, institution’s reply and contract version so that the point can be checked again before a later decision.
No implied promise
- A favourable scenario, projected value or tax example is not a capital or return guarantee.
- FINMA supervises insurers but does not select a product for you or decide every private-law dispute.
- This content does not calculate total cost, future value, required cover or a person’s capacity to bear risk.
Verified Swiss federal sources
Verified English guidance is linked where the FSIO, FTA and FINMA provide it. The current contribution-limit page and the controlling OPP 3 and Insurance Contract Act texts fall back to French because no equivalent current English legal source was verified. German, French and Italian official texts, the competent authority and the provider’s documents remain decisive.
- AFC — List of providers of recognised pillar 3a pension productsEnglish · English FTA overview of recognised providers; it is not a ranking or an assessment of quality, cost, performance or suitability.↗
- FINMA — Individual life insuranceEnglish · Supervisory framework for individual life insurance, including the absence of general tariff approval and requirements for surrender values.↗
- FINMA — You have a problem with your insurance companyEnglish · Initial approach to the insurer, possible review of conversion or surrender values, and the boundary between supervision and private-law disputes.↗
- Fedlex — Federal Insurance Contract ActFrench legal-text fallback · Pre-contract information and general contract rules relevant to an insurance-policy solution; the cited controlling text is French.↗