Hi

I ve been here for a number of years and will leave soon - I m currently in employment and have a pillar 2 pension

Do I have any control on whether this can be invested at my discretion? I would like to convert the pension into a different currency at current rates and leave it in cash

If I cannot do that then perhaps - At what point do I have investment control over the pillar 2 pension

While you're still employed you get very little say in how pillar 2 gets invested. It is mostly up to your company and your pension fund to manage it

Once you gave up employment you can transfer the monies into a Freizügigkeitskonto with some more freedom. But I don't think you can convert it to non-CHF currency in these accounts and leave it. You can get money invested in some 100% stock funds though, although it costs an arm and a leg in fees

If you expect payout soon, you could go on the margin at your broker. e.g. IBKR will loan you CHF at 1-1.5%, Go buy what you want and close the negative CHF balance once you receive the payout. You will need of course enough existing assets as a collateral to get the margin..

VIAC offers a Freizügigkeitskonto where you have some flexibility on how you invest but if you're leaving soon there are other things to be considered, e.g. domicil of the institution (I read that you want the Freizügigkeitskonto to be in Canton Schwyz because it would be taxed there if you are leaving, depending on where you're leaving to).

The tax situation in your new country of residence is important, Swiss withholding tax can be reclaimed so the rate payable may or may not be important, depends if the withholding tax is the final tax.