The estimated return of Icelandic pension funds in 2024 was 6.5 per cent, for collective insurance and private ownership, according to the Icelandic Pension Fund Association.

The estimate is based on the weighted average of the entire portfolio of Icelandic pension funds, but the final return figures will be published when the funds' annual accounts for 2024 are available.

Looking over the longer term, over the past 10 years, the average real return for pension funds has been around 4 per cent and over five years around 2.7 per cent.

In addition, the most recent figures published by the Central Bank of Iceland found that at the end of quarter three, pension fund assets totalled ISK 8,000bn and had increased by ISK 630bn since the beginning of 2024.

Of that total, mutual pension divisions’ foreign assets accounted for 41 per cent and had increased by just over 2 per cent, up to the end of quarter three.

The maximum permissible ratio of foreign assets held by mutual pension divisions increased by 1.5 percentage points on 1 January 2025, to 53 per cent.

---