POLAND - Polish pension fund houses (OFE) continued to see strong gains in 2009 alongside contributions raised, as the latest figures from research firm Analizy Online suggest OFEs grew by 29% last year.
Assets held in Polish pension funds grew to PLN178.6bn (€43.5bn) by 21 December 2009 after assets generated a +3% monthly growth rate, said Analizy.
More specifically, the growth of Polish OFE were “only slowed” by the recent stock market turbulence, according to the research firm, as the funds actually grew by 14.3% in 2008, when the markets hit the height of its losses.
Funds performed well even though the sum of money contributed to the pension funds from the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) actually fell in 2009 by 13%, from PLN21bn to PLN 19.7bn, research suggested.
Receiving contributions from the ZUS into OFEs has been the subject of political disagreement among government officials in recent months, as the Polish finance minister announced proposals in November to cut contributions from the ZUS but also move assets from the second to the first pillar. (See earlier IPE story: Poland to ease investment rules)
At present, Polish pension funds can only invest up to 5% of their assets overseas, and only in selected asset types, such as equities, bonds, loans, securities, investment certificates and mortgages. However, this issue is also being reviewed and could in future allow pension funds to further diversify overseas.
The move could have a major impact on potential returns. And yet some funds saw major inflows and returns as assets held by Axa OFE and Generali OFE rose bye 41.1% on investments, while Allianz Polska OFE climbed to third place after seeing 38.6% annual growth.
The worst performing fund was PKO BP Bankowy OFE but its assets rose by 21.9%, followed by Amplico OFE and Aegon OFE with 23.4% and 23.3% respectively.
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