HUNGARY - Hungarian mandatory pension funds have made up for the losses suffered in 2008 by returning 21.3% on average over the past 12 months.

Figures for the OTP, ING and Generali pension funds - OTP and ING being the two largest pension providers in the Hungarian pensions sector - reveal that growth funds in particular made returns in the region of 30% thanks to their high equity exposure.

Gabor Borza, CFO of the life and pensions division of ING Hungary, confirmed the three funds run by ING under the lifecycle model had returned 23.4% on average, albeit the weighted average return was much higher at 29.3%.

"Eighty per cent of our assets are in the growth fund which returned 31.98%," he explained to IPE.

The conservative funds of OTP, ING and Generali with the lowest equity exposure returned between 9.58% and 16.46%.

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