findependent Switzerland 99

Eighty percent of your stocks in Switzerland, for less than BLKB's Swiss equity 3a fund.

findependent Switzerland 99 ranks #11 of 109 3a investment funds, well ahead of BLKB iQ Responsible Equity Switzerland B (#25), the closest home-market alternative. Like all 15 findependent strategies, it's ranked on a back-test, since the 3a only started taking money on 19 October 2026. It's for investors who want a near-full equity 3a with a strong Swiss home bias.

How Does It Compare With BLKB?

At 0.29% all-in, it undercuts BLKB's Swiss equity 3a fund, which has a 0.34% TER in our data. On CHF 50,000, that's CHF 145 versus CHF 170 a year. The gap is modest, but findependent includes custody, rebalancing and strategy changes, and there's no stamp duty or exchange fee on top.

On returns, the comparison gets tricky. findependent's back-test shows +32.7% over five years against BLKB's real +28.41%. One is a simulation built from index data after costs, the other is what investors actually got. The simulated ten-year figure is +128.0%, but nobody has held this exact portfolio for real yet.

What Actually Stands Out

This is a Swiss-first portfolio: 80% of the equities are Swiss, 20% global, plus 1% cash. Swiss stocks come through zero-fee Swisscanto institutional funds, and the foreign part uses IPF funds for the US and Japan that avoid foreign withholding tax. No FX markups apply, since every fund trades in CHF.

If you want to fine-tune the mix, findependent also offers a custom 3a built from about 30 Swisscanto index funds at the same fee, each with a maximum weight. That lets you keep the Swiss focus while trimming any single block you don't like. The fund list is on findependent's 3a page.

What Most Reviews Miss

Home bias comes with concentration. Nestlé, Novartis and Roche make up about 45% of the Large Caps Switzerland fund findependent uses. With 80% of your equities in Switzerland, three companies drive a big share of your retirement savings. That's a real bet on one market's heavyweights.

The back-test also undercuts the safety argument. Switzerland 99 fell 36.5% in 2008 and simulated +128.0% over ten years. Standard 80, with 19 points less equity and a smaller Swiss share, simulated +128.1% over the same decade and fell only 34.0% in 2008. Same destination, smoother road.

The Bottom Line

Choose Switzerland 99 if you specifically want your 3a anchored in Swiss companies and accept the concentration. If you just want growth, Global 99 (#1) or Standard 99 (#3) score better at the same fee. You can test which allocation suits you with our 3a product finder.

Verdict: The cheapest way we know to hold a Swiss-heavy, near-100% equity 3a, as long as you're at peace with three stocks doing much of the work.