The assets of Finnish earnings-related pension provider Ilmarinen grew by €5.1bn in 2025.

This equates to 8.1 per cent, its full year results revealed, and brings its total assets under management to €67.5bn. Over the longer term, Ilmarinen’s investments have generated €30.2bn in returns.

“2025 was a strong year for Ilmarinen. Despite geopolitical tensions, Ilmarinen’s investments performed well and its solvency continued to strengthen. Insurance premium income grew, and our cost efficiency is at a good level,” Ilmarinen CEO, Mikko Mursula, said.

Ilmarinen’s return on equity investments was 10.4 per cent while the return on fixed-income investments was 6.3 per cent. The return on real estate investments was 1.1 per cent. The return on other investments was 8.4 per cent.

“Ilmarinen’s investment returns were boosted in particular by equity investments and interest rate and credit risk investments. The returns on our listed equity investments were particularly good. Corporate bonds also performed well, and we achieved excellent returns on absolute return investments,” Ilmarinen CIO, Annika Ekman, said.

At the end of 2025, Ilmarinen’s investments in Finland amounted to €13.6bn, or 20 per cent of its investment portfolio. Approximately half of these investments, or €7.2bn, are in Finnish listed companies. In addition, Ilmarinen has €1.9bn in investments in unlisted Finnish companies.

“As a pension company, our job is to invest profitably, safely, and responsibly. Long-term investing in Finland and growth companies is part of our work to secure pensions and build sustainable economic growth.

“Finland is our home market. Our home-field advantage is evident in our ability to closely monitor various projects and see domestic opportunities well. We carefully examine domestic investment targets and invest actively both through funds and directly in unlisted companies,” Ekman said.

During the year, Ilmarinen’s solvency capital strengthened to €15.5bn, up from €13.9bn, and the solvency ratio increased to 129.2 per cent, up from 127.5 per cent.

As a result of its strengthened capital adequacy, it is transferring €149m, or 6 per cent more than last year, to customer bonuses. This is despite the fact that customer bonuses can be distributed at 0.95 per cent of solvency capital instead of the previous 1 per cent, Mursula explained.

“Our goal is to provide the best customer experience in the industry, and we have succeeded in this excellently. Our customers’ willingness to recommend us (NPS) exceeded our target level, and in the EPSI Rating survey, we received the best ratings in the employment pension sector in all areas,” Mursula stated.

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