Swiss Life's season of renewal: cost prudence, a fresh buyback and TELIS soon to land

Solid H1 growth is underscored by an efficiency drive and a clearer holdco cash policy as the group prepares for a post-2027 world.

SLHN.SW · Earnings Call · 2026-09-01

A good first half, with the tone set by what comes next

Swiss Life's half-year report showed the operating resilience you'd expect from a diversified European life and asset manager: Fee result rose 11% in local currency to CHF 430 million, profit from operations was up 8%, net profit also grew 8% to CHF 649 million, and annualized return on equity jumped to 20.2% from 17.6% a year ago. Management was quick to attribute the broadening improvement to every fee franchise — asset managers, IFAs and unit-linked — not just a single tailwind. As Matthias Aellig put it at the opening of the call: “We grew the fee income and the fee result across all businesses, meaning asset managers, IFAs and the unit-linked business.” — Matthias Aellig, CEO · 2026-09-01 That broad-based growth is the backbone of the message that Swiss Life 2027 is on track. Cash remittance to the holding company also came in stronger, up 5% to CHF 1.2 billion. Yet for investors the more consequential topics were the details of how cash and capital will be deployed in the next twelve months: the completion of TELIS, a new CHF 250 million buyback, and the first details of a workforce reduction aimed at improving structural efficiency beyond 2027.

TELIS, buybacks and the cost machinery

The TELIS acquisition, which was fully closed on 1 July 2026, sits outside the reported figures for the semester, but management used the call to restate the economics. Marco Gerussi confirmed that the integration will add 1,800 advisers and that the operating result contribution remains in the previously communicated band for a full year: “On the TELIS acquisition overall, more from a top-line view... We will add 1,800 advisers... the operating result will be somewhere between CHF 25 million and CHF 30 million for an entire year.” — Marco Gerussi, CFO · 2026-09-01 This reiterates what the CEO told analysts in May when the deal was announced, providing a useful marker for how much of the fee-result target will be back-loaded into 2027 – a point that is further supported by Assets under management growth during the first half (TPAM's AuM rose to CHF 158 billion from CHF 146 billion at end-2025). A second—and arguably more novel—piece of direction came in the form of the new share buyback. Unlike the often-large program announced at Investor Day 2024, this CHF 250 million tranche is scheduled to run from October 2026 to March 2027. Management fielded several analyst questions about whether this shorter, smaller program signals a change in policy. Matthias Aellig was explicit in his answer: it doesn't. He pointed back to the consistent framework, saying in a follow-up answer: “I think the first one on cash at holding... we have comfort level or comfort range at holding level being CHF 0.5 billion to CHF 0.7 billion.” — Marco Gerussi, CFO · 2026-09-01 CFO Marco Gerussi gave the same reassuring picture: the holdco's cash buffer remains within that corridor, with more than half of the buyback funded from existing cash and the remainder from repatriations. The message was reinforced by drawing attention to a fully undrawn revolver, a point that likely soothed worries that the holdco cash position had fallen to the low end of the target range. Investors were also offered a clear forward-looking rationale for a reduction of roughly 600 positions by the end of 2028. The measure, targeted to generate CHF 150 million of annual savings from 2029, sits alongside existing cost targets for the life business. The CEO gave a candid explanation of why the management team is acting now:

We look today already beyond 2027, and we want to continue our success beyond 2027. And that's why we want to continue to pursue growth opportunities... we want to increase our efficiency, and that's why we have now undertaken this cut... out of those 600 we have until today already reduced 100 by using natural attrition.
Matthias Aellig, CEO · 2026-09-01

The restructuring will be spread roughly equally between Switzerland and Asset Managers overseas, with most of the cost savings expected to be offset by implementation expenses in 2027 and 2028. This is a concrete signal that the company is no longer relying solely on organic fee growth to lift margins; it is actively reshaping its cost base for the next strategic cycle.

France, taxes and the real-estate lever

Alongside the structural moves, there were a few operational details worth flagging. French non-life results delivered a record profit in the first half, and operating result from insurance improved. Management cautioned against extrapolating the pace, but the turnaround is exactly the sort of profit-first discipline management has promised for several years. As the CEO said in the 2024 earnings call when asked about the future trajectory: “At the full year, there was clearly a significantly negative contribution from the French non-life businesses... we said that we are working on turning that business around” – a reference point that now feels well supported by the latest numbers. The step-up in French corporate tax rates remains a headwind – the CFO sees the tax rate for 2026 settling between 25% and the current level, and indicated it could persist into 2027 – but this is being partly offset by the recovery in health and protection profitability. The real estate portfolio, meanwhile, continues to behave as a reliable ballast. Real estate fair value changes turned positive at around 0.4% in the first half, and management now expects full-year changes to double from that level, underpinned by the Swiss portfolio. Vacancy rates are also improving, easing down to 2.8%. Net investment income surged to CHF 2.4 billion, mainly thanks to equities, infrastructure and FX hedging, while direct investment income was slightly lower due to timing and FX—the CFO was keen to frame this as short-term noise rather than a structural trend. In TPAM business, net new assets of CHF 7.2 billion were clearly down from an exceptional CHF 13.2 billion in the prior year, but management again confirmed a strong pipeline and easier comparables; the recurring income growth of 7% already reflects the higher asset base. The near-term reading is that Swiss Life has the operating momentum and capital discipline to execute its 2027 ambitions—and now it is starting to detail what comes after that horizon. The market reaction will, of course, weigh this against the new costs and the elongated TELIS integration, but the strategic intent is now unmistakable.