- Aquila Capital has advised Avadis Anlagestiftung with its investment group Avadis Anlagestiftung Clean Energy Infrastruktur on an investment in Switzerland’s largest battery storage facility.

The construction of the pioneering project in Bonaduz in the canton of Graubünden will start at the beginning of 2026. Avadis Anlagestiftung will be the owner of the facility, while the Swiss company 49Komma8 AG will oversee the development, construction and implementation of the project. In addition, Aquila Clean Energy EMEA, a sister company of Aquila Capital, will support the project in the development, construction and operation phases with its extensive expertise in the battery segment.

Aquila Capital CIO, Markus Wandt, commented: “A Swiss foundation investing in a Swiss battery project is an excellent strategic partnership. It also complements the clean energy investment portfolio of pension funds. The planned project is of a considerable scale and is set to establish new standards for energy storage in Switzerland.”

- Denmark’s PKA has announced that its customers will receive an account interest rate of 9 per cent on their pension savings in 2025, the highest rate since 2001.

The rate is a percentage point increase of 2024’s 8 per cent rate. The account interest rate is an average interest rate. This means that the annual interest rate is based on an average of returns on investments over several years. In years with higher returns, PKA sets aside for years with lower returns. This way, it can even out the difference between good and bad years in the investment markets.

PKA pension savers are part of a collective of 360,000 members across 13 professional groups in the social and healthcare sectors. The investments are pooled together with members sharing the risk.

- The UK’s Smart Pension has launched an integrated retirement savings calculator.

The new interactive tool is designed to help members model and predict the monthly pension contributions required for a comfortable retirement.

It allows individuals to see how much they save and view their expected retirement income against the PLSA's Retirement Living Standards.

Smart Pension's senior director of strategic delivery, Eve Read, commented: "We recognised that lots of UK savers don't know how much they're currently putting into their pension pot each month, how much they should be saving and what will be enough to retire on. This is just one step among many aimed at improving our online tools and services to help members get the best out of their pension."

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