Finnish earnings-related pension provider Veritas made a loss of -0.3 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of the year.

Its Q1 results revealed that its return was slightly worse than its return in Q1 of 2025 (-0.2 per cent).

By asset class, fixed-income investments yielded -0.4 (-0.3) per cent, equity investments -0.7 (-0.6) per cent, property investments -0.2 (0.8) per cent and other investments 1.9 (0.5) per cent.

Veritas investment director, Laura Wickström, said: “The start of the year has been very eventful, and returns on investments fell below zero.

“Fears of an escalation of the crisis in Iran led to negative returns on listed shares at the end of the quarter. But the investment year has only just begun and there is still plenty of time for things to happen.”

According to Wickström, investors have had to get used to volatility or market fluctuations during Trump’s second term.

“The start of the year has been marked by geopolitical uncertainty and rising energy prices. If the war in the Middle East drags on or escalates, it could have significant consequences for economic growth and the market,” she added.

Despite a weak Q1, Veritas’ investments turned positive by April, as the stock market has largely recovered from the shock caused by the war in Iran. In particular, the Helsinki Stock Exchange made a swift recovery and has outperformed the average for European stock exchanges.

Wickström said, looking forward, “economic growth continues to look stable, particularly in the US”. However, “rising energy prices have dampened expectations of economic growth” in Europe.

“It is also more likely that interest rates will rise in Europe than in the US, which in turn could affect consumer confidence in particular, as it is already at a low level,” she added.

On a more positive note, the total payroll covered by the employment pension scheme (ArPL) in companies insured by the employment pension provider Veritas grew by over 6 per cent in January–March compared with the previous year.

“Veritas has grown significantly in recent years. At the same time, we have focused on developing our customer service and, among other things, taken the first steps towards utilising artificial intelligence.

"In the first quarter of this year, we managed to reduce processing times for pension applications by 25 per cent compared with the same period last year,” Veritas’s CEO, Elina Fogelholm, said.

---