Veritas, the smallest of Finland’s four pension insurance companies, has trumped its larger rival Varma on 2025 returns — while both have beaten the country’s largest pension fund Keva — in a booming year for Finnish equities.
Veritas today reported an 8.7% return on investments for the full year, with total assets growing to €5.2bn from €4.8bn, and Varma posted a 7.5% gain with investments increasing to €68.3bn over the year from €64.4bn.
Keva, the now €74bn provider of public sector pensions, yesterday reported a return of 5.8%, with listed equities – its best-performing asset class having produced a 13.1% gain, followed by private equity at 1.5%.
By comparison, Varma’s listed equities yielded 16.4%, and its private equity assets made a loss for the private-sector earnings-related pension provider (-0.6%). At Veritas, the two asset classes generated 17.1% and 2.9%, respectively, over the year, according to the annual reports.
Laura Wickström, Veritas’ chief investment officer, said: “We kept a high exposure to listed equities throughout the year, and it paid off.”
Meanwhile, the State Pension Fund of Finland (Valtion Eläkerahasto, VER) – which is a buffer fund for state employee pensions – reported a 9.3% return for 2025 in market-value terms.
VER, whose assets increased to €25.8bn at the end of 2025 from €24.2bn a year earlier, reported a 15.4% gain for its listed equities and 28.6% for non-listed equities – a different category from private equity.
Timo Löyttyniemi, VER’s chief executive officer, who is set to retire early this year, said: “As a result of sound returns, VER’s funding ratio reached 26.5%.”
But he added: “However, the decisions made at the government’s mid-term economic policy review and budget negotiations will undermine VER’s risk-bearing capacity and postpone the schedule for greater risk-taking.”
At Keva, CEO Jaakko Kiander said he considered the institution’s 2025 return to be good, and that in real terms, the figure was still above 5%, due to low inflation.
“If not for the weakening of the dollar last year, last year’s result would have been excellent,” he noted.
Varma’s deputy CEO Markus Aho commented that for the European investor, the depreciation of the US dollar had eroded the returns on US investments last year.
Among factors buoying equities in 2025, though, he said: “Major investments in AI and data centres in the USA bolstered the economy, and economic sentiment in Europe was also upbeat, thanks to investments in the defence sector and other planned investments.”
Emerging market returns and the Nasdaq Helsinki reached record highs, he continued.
At Veritas, Wickström said in the Turku-based pension insurer’s results announcement: ”Investing in Finnish equities paid off last year, as the Helsinki Stock Exchange was one of the best stock markets, with an annual return of 35%,” adding that European equities had also performed well.
On the other hand, Veritas said, the US “has lost a bit of its charm and the country’s position as a safe haven for investors was shaken”.
Varma said its return on Finnish equities was 36.2% last year – after a gain of just 0.2% in 2024.
Varma’s president and CEO Risto Murto commented on the upcoming pension reform – due before parliament shortly and aiming to stabilise the pension system and improve investment returns in the long term – saying: “Our strong solvency gives us flexibility to implement changes based on the market situation.”
He said: “Our preparations for the pension reform have gone according to plan, and we are well-prepared for its implementation.”
The reform will enable increased risk-taking and a higher equity weight in the investment portfolio, Varma stated.
Earlier this week, Varma announced a major deal involving its residential real estate exposure – which makes up around 1.5% of the institution’s total assets – partly aimed at freeing up tied equity, in the light of the upcoming reform.
