Value preserving by investing in CHF has been on my mind recently. My idea was to find an ETF that is composed of Swiss companies having their main revenue in CHF and little exposure to foreign markets. I couldn’t find one, though.
So I have taken a quick look at the companies available on the SWX.
To make a long story short, you can do your own portfolio of Swiss stocks if you focus on the following sectors:
- Cantonal banks: There are many of those (BEKB, ZGKB, Basler KB, BCG, BCV…)
- Regional and other banks: Valiant, One bank (Wealth Management, iffy Swiss focus), Cembra
- Insurance: Helvetia, Baloise, Vaudoise
- Hospitality/Health care: Aevis (lots of foreign clients, tourism)
- Real estate: Allreal and a bunch of others
If you check the Shares on the BX (Bern Exchange), you can find a few more:
Most of those are boring but profitable businesses that pay nice dividends while having a low potential capital gain (my guess).
Diversification is poor, as banking, insurance and real estate are sensitive to interest rates.
I suppose this could be a part of a pensioner’s portfolio or of a more conservative investment approach, but I don’t think it’s a great idea if you’re in the accumulation phase. Unfortunately, I am not able to do a historical analyisis to see if I’m right.