Finnish earnings-related pension provider Ilmarinen has reported a 4.8 per cent, or €3bn, return on its investments for the first nine months of 2025, as strong equity and fixed-income performance helped lift solvency.

The market value of the company’s investment portfolio rose to €65.7bn, up from €63.3bn at the end of 2024, while its solvency ratio improved to 128.3 per cent. Solvency capital increased to €14.7bn, up from €13.9bn at the end of 2024.

The provider’s long-term average return on investments since 1997 was 5.8 per cent as at the end of September 2025, corresponding to a real return of 4 per cent.

Ilmarinen CEO, Mikko Mursula, said the year had been shaped by geopolitical and trade policy tensions, although market uncertainty had eased since the spring.

“Ilmarinen has performed strongly in January–September. Equity and fixed-income investments in particular have yielded good returns, and our solvency has continued to strengthen,” Mursula said.

Despite returns being boosted by equity and fixed income investments, the figures were below the same period in 2024.

The return on equity investments was 5.4 per cent, compared to 11.9 per cent for January-September 2024, and the return on fixed income investments was 4.7 (4.6) per cent. Real estate investments achieved a return of 1.3 (-0.3) per cent, and other investments generated a 5.8 (4.0) per cent return.

Ilmarinen CIO, Annika Ekman, said the stock market recovered well from its decline in early April, with listed equity investments performing “particularly well”.

Furthermore, the company’s insurance premium income grew by 3 per cent in January–September to €5.5bn. Premium income was boosted by growth in customers’ payroll. The total payroll and earned income of those insured by Ilmarinen grew by 2.5 per cent to €22.1bn.

Regarding lmarinen’s administrative expenses, costs totalled €68m in the period, €1m down on the same period last year. As a result, the ratio of administrative expenses to payroll and earned income, which measures cost efficiency, improved to 0.31 (0.32) per cent.

"We have improved our productivity over the long term. Our customers benefit directly from our efficiency in their insurance premiums," Mursula said.

During the period, the number of pension decisions increased, and more pensions were paid than before.

At the end of September, Ilmarinen had 449,917 pension recipients, compared to 453,821 at the end of September 2024. Pensions totalling €6bn were paid to them in January–September, representing a 4 per cent increase from the previous year.

A total of 33,110 new pension decisions were made in January–September, which was 10 per cent more than in the previous year. The number of new old-age pension decisions nearly doubled compared to the previous year, reaching 17,358, compared to 9,980.

“More and more people are working after retirement, and they are applying for pensions based on this work. This is reflected in the number of pension decisions. Ilmarinen issues old-age pension decisions in an average of three days,” Mursula added.

A total of 7,384 new disability pension decisions were made, which was 3 per cent less than the 7,609 granted in the previous year.

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