1. What is Selma?
Fintech company Selma Finance AG is an online asset management company that was founded in 2017 and is based in the canton of Schwyz. The founders are four entrepreneurs with backgrounds in the fields of finance and financial consulting, technology and UX design.
The pillar 3a account is opened with and managed by the partner banks Saxo Bank (Switzerland) and VZ Vermögenszentrum. The digital financial assistant Selma then takes over the rest. It optimizes, buys and sells investments. As soon as money arrives in the account, it is automatically deposited.
In the background are partners who support the growth of the company by providing financing. The Migros Group’s venture capital arm, Sparrow Ventures, and TX Media Group hold stakes in Selma Finance.
In pillar 3a, Selma offers six investment strategies to choose from, devised by VZ Vermögenszentrum with stock allocations of between 15% and 97%.
2. What’s unique about Selma?
Format: the investment process starts with a chat with Selma. The chatbot asks questions about your personal finances and circumstances. It creates an individual investment strategy based on the answers.
The target group: Selma’s target group is primarily young investors looking for a simple and cost-effective digital investment platform. The key motivating factors for this target group are simplicity, low costs and friendly service.
Flexibility: Selma’s investments are always adjusted to fit your personal priorities. The appropriate level of risk varies depending on your situation.
Fees: Selma’s service fee is 0.68% per year. In addition, there are product costs of around 0.22%.
For total balances of over 50,000 francs, the fee is reduced to 0.55%. From 150,000 francs, the fees will be reduced to 0.47%.
Selma’s investment principles
| Long-term investing | Only money that can be tied up for at least 5-10 years is to be invested. Long-term investment reduces risk and helps investors profit from the growing market and the compound interest effect. |
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| Regular investing | If you set up a direct debit, your purchasing behaviour will adapt to fluctuations in the market. On average, you can buy more at low prices and less at high prices. This gives you a better purchase price. |
| Diverse investing | Don’t put everything into the same investment. Selma selects global, broadly diversified investment products. This avoids large losses if a market (e.g. the US market) or an investment product (e.g. bonds) loses value in the short term. |
3. Selma app
The website selma.ch can be used with any phone, tablet or laptop. The Selma app is available for iOS and Android.
4. Other Selma products
In addition to the restricted pension scheme in pillar 3a, with Selma you can also invest in the unrestricted pillar 3a plan on the same terms. Although there are no tax benefits with this plan, there is also no maximum amount or legal restrictions on when you can withdraw the savings.
