Finnish earnings-related pension assets grew by €1bn in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, according to the Finnish Pension Alliance (Tela).

In total at the end of September 2023, Finnish occupational pension fund assets totalled €244bn. Since the beginning of 2023, assets have increased by €6bn.

“Of the pension investments, only stocks have offered a positive real return, while fixed-income investments, real estate and alternative investments have remained flat. Real estate investments are above freezing, both nominally and in real terms,” Tela analyst, Kimmo Koivurinne, explained.

The nominal return on occupational pension funds for the current year was 3.3 per cent. The real return, which takes into account inflation as a factor reducing the total return, was -0.1 per cent. At the end of the Q3, equity investments had produced a return of 1.1 per cent in real terms, while others had a negative real return. In the longer time span of the last 10 years, the total return was 3.3 per cent in real terms.

Tela's statistical analysis of the amount of pension assets includes information on the investment activities of pension insurance companies, pension funds, pension foundations, Kela's salaried employees' pension fund, Keva, the Church's pension fund, the Pension Fund of Agricultural Entrepreneurs, the Seamen's Pension Fund, the Pension Fund of the Bank of Finland and the State Pension Fund.

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