Several Icelandic pension funds have published their annual financial statements for 2024, showing overall increased returns at year end.

Iceland’s Almenni pension fund reported that at the end of 2024, net assets available for pension payments amounted to ISK 477bn, and the fund grew by ISK 62bn (14.8 per cent) during the year.

The number of its fund members was 63,414, an increase of 5.4 per cent from last year.

Meanwhile, net assets available for pension payments in private pension funds amounted to ISK 252bn, and ISK 225bn for mutual insurance funds. 

The fund credited the good returns for investors to the main securities markets.

In addition to this, all of the pension fund’s return options showed a positive nominal return of 6.6 per cent to 13.8 per cent and a real return of 1.7 per cent to 8.7 per cent. The highest return was in Ævisafn one, which increased by 13.8 per cent, equivalent to an 8.7 per cent real return. 

The report also showed that pension payments from the mutual insurance fund amounted to ISK 5.5bn in 2024 to 3,490 pensioners, an 18.6 per cent increase from the previous year.  

Meanwhile, payments to private pension funds amounted to ISK 8.2bn, an increase of 16.6 per cent. Of this, ISK 1.2bn was paid into the housing loans of 2,984 fund members and ISK 70.1m was paid towards the first home purchase of 88 fund members according to the government's measures. 

The actuarial position showed that total liabilities exceed assets by 2.4 per cent or ISK 9.4bn, as the total assets of the mutual insurance fund totalled ISK 388.4bn, while liabilities amounted ISK 397.8bn.

Meanwhile, the Icelandic Pension Fund of Akureyri Employees financial statement for 2024 found that the nominal return was 10.7 per cent, corresponding to a real return of 5.7 per cent.

The statement also found that the average real return over the past five years is 2.0 per cent and 3.2 per cent over the past 10 years.

The net assets available for pension payments increased by 4.3 per cent from the previous year and amounted to ISK 14,636m at year-end of 2024.

A total of 30 fund members with four employers paid contributions to the fund during the period, amounting to ISK 36m. Pension payments amounted to ISK 1,447m, and the number of pensioners was 791.

The fund's actuarial position is negative by 42.7 per cent, but the Akureyri Municipal Fund is responsible for the fund's liabilities.

The Stapi Pension Fund annual financial report said that at the end of 2024, net assets available for pension payments amounted to ISK 431bn, an increase of approximately ISK 51bn from 2023.

The nominal return on the fund's assets in 2024 was 11.4 per cent and the real return was 6.3 per cent, while the average net real return over the past five years is around 2.4 per cent.

The report also revealed that almost ISK 12bn in pensions were paid from the fund's insurance department to about 13,000 pensioners. This was about 11.8 per cent higher payments than in 2023. The number of pensioners increased by 4 per cent.

A total of just under 23,000 fund members of over 3,800 employers paid contributions to the Social Insurance Department during the year, while premiums amounted to ISK 18.8bn, an increase of 6 per cent from 2023. The number of active fund members who paid monthly premiums was around 16,500.

The net assets of the private pension fund amounted to ISK 9,700m, up by 15.2 per cent in 2023.  

The fund offers three return portfolios, the deposit portfolio, the prudent portfolio, and the daring portfolio. The deposit portfolio's net real return was 1.8 per cent in 2024, the prudent portfolio returned 7.5 per cent and the daring portfolio returned 9.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, the net assets of the specified private pension fund amounted to ISK 1,064m at the end of the year, with a net real return of 5.8 per cent.

Iceland’s fourth-largest pension fund, the Birta pension fund, annual financial report revealed that the net assets available for pension payments amounted to ISK 696bn, while premiums paid amounted to ISK 24.8bn at the end of 2024.

The mutual insurance department's net assets for pension payments amounted to ISK 669,235m at year-end 2024, compared with ISK 599,484m in 2023.

In addition to this, the report found that the net assets of the private pension fund saw an increase from ISK 21,150m in 2023 to ISK 22,952m in 2024.

Meanwhile, the net assets of the specified private pension fund also saw an increase over the year, from ISK 3,148m in 2023 to ISK 3,920m in 2024.

The combined assets of the mutual insurance department, the private pension division, and the specified private pension division, also rose from ISK 623,782m at year-end 2023 to ISK 696,108m at year-end 2024.

The fund's nominal return in 2024 was 11.36 per cent, corresponding to a real return of 6.29 per cent. This is an improvement from the real return of 1.12 per cent in 2023.

The average real return of the mutual insurance division over the last five years is 3.06 per cent and the past 10 years is 3.99 per cent.

The report also showed that the total pensions paid was ISK 23.6bn, while the actuarial audit showed that the fund's total liabilities exceeded total assets by 4.72 per cent.

The net assets of the private pension department amounted to ISK 23bn, while the net assets of specified private pensions amounted to ISK 3.9bn.

Operating expenses as a ratio of average asset balance is 0.15 per cent.

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