The Pension Fund of Commerce (Lífeyrissjóður verzlunarmanna, LV) and Birta Pension Fund have abandoned the idea of merging for now, after months of early talks about a potential process which would have created Iceland’s biggest pension fund by some distance.
The two pension funds – Iceland’s second and fourth largest, respectively – announced on Wednesday: “After detailed analysis of the funds’ operations and actuarial assumptions, it has been decided not to initiate formal merger talks at this time.”
The boards of LV and Birta, which had ISK1.46trn (€10.0bn) and ISK669bn of assets respectively at the end of 2024, announced at the end of January that they would start talks on a possible merger.
The aim of the discussions had been to “assess whether a merger could deliver increased operational efficiency and strengthen the infrastructure of both funds for the benefit of fund members”, they said in a joint statement.
“The boards of both funds would like to thank the staff, board members and others who have put a lot of work into examining the matter for their contribution,” the pension funds said.
Had they merged, the resulting pension fund would have been considerably larger in total asset terms than LSR, which is currently Iceland’s biggest pension fund with ISK1.57trn of assets at the end of 2024.
Neither LV nor Birta has yet responded to IPE’s requests for further comment.
Iceland’s pensions sector has been consolidating gradually in recent decades, with merger activity between pension funds gathering pace last year.
At the end of April, Frjalsi Pension Fund and The Icelandic Dental Association Pension Fund (LTFÍ) announced their merger had finally been implemented, following approval from the Competition Authority.
A fortnight before that, Lífsverk Pension Fund held its last annual general meeting on the same day as the 2026 AGM of Almenni-Lífsverk – the newly merged pension fund it has become part of.
