UK - There is now evidence of improvement to three-year equity returns to pension fund assets, as the latest BNY Mellon CAPS pooled pension fund figures show, in the main, assets have continued to recover.

Details of pooled pension fund performance figures for May 2009 show balanced funds enjoyed a median return of 2.2% and the year-to-date figures have now reversed from a negative to a positive.

While the gross returns of some asset managers’ funds have yet to make positive gains, 11 of the 50 balanced funds listed are now showing a positive return over three years while 35 out of 50 are now in positive territory since the beginning of the year.

Looking at all of the sectors analysed, just three out of 17 asset sectors delivered a net median return in May, according to BNY Mellon, though interestingly many of those assets classes performed below the benchmark indices.

Emerging markets equity was the best performing asset group, providing a return on investment of 8.3% in May compared with 7.6% on its benchmark, and international bonds delivered the worst return of -5%, though this was lower than the -5.6% loss on the benchmark.

Aside from Northern American equity, which generated a loss of 2.1%, all other major equity markets posted positive returns during May.

BNY Mellon tracks the returns of 69 different asset managers in order to collate the monthly performance review.

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