IPE Top 1000: Europe’s pension asset growth slows

The largest European pension funds have recorded a 5.4% increase in the value of their assets over the past year, according to this year’s IPE Top 1000 Pension Funds study.

The pension funds included in IPE’s flagship study now manage €10.55trn worth of assets, after breaking the €10trn barrier for the first time in 2025.

The rate of growth of European pension assets, as calculated by IPE, has decelerated slightly from last year’s 5.7% increase.

For the third year running, European pension funds’ assets have increased above the 10-year trend, which stands at 4.6%.

Over the past decade, growth rates have fluctuated from a high of 9.1% in 2021 to a low of -7% in 2023.

However, assets have increased at a healthy rate since 2024. Last year’s slight deceleration is most likely due to weak job growth across Europe, which means lower contribution rates to pension funds.

Thanks to strong equity markets, pension funds’ asset growth has maintained momentum, although volatility in global financial markets has impacted returns.

In each country surveyed by IPE, pension fund assets increased on average by 8.8% since last year’s study. In Spain, pension fund assets increased by more than one-fifth, while in central and eastern European countries, as well as Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Austria, pension fund assets increased by more than 10%.

Top 10 funds see 7% increase in assets

Thanks to strong performances by key asset classes, especially equities, Europe’s top 10 pension funds have enjoyed a 7% increase in assets, equivalent to €222bn, since last year’s study.

For this group of investors, growth in assets has accelerated compared with last year’s 6% rate. Collectively, the top 10 funds control more than €3.6trn of assets.

The average increase in assets was 7.4%, but there is significant dispersion across the sample, from AP7’s 13.1% rise to ATP’s 3.4% fall.

According to IPE’s analysis, the top 10 European pension funds’ portfolios remain concentrated in equities, and allocations to alternatives more generally have remained stable since last year’s study.

Exposure to US assets has been reduced or overlaid with US dollar hedging strategies.

Returns have been mixed, with some strong performances from the likes of Norway’s giant sovereign fund Government Pension Fund Global, Alecta and ATP, but also significant bumps in the road for Dutch giants ABP and PFZW.