During the second quarter of 2011, Austrian Pensionskassen (pension companies) registered average investment performance of -0.5%. This resulted in overall performance of -1.2% in the first half of the year. The level of assets managed by Austrian Pensionskassen as at 30 June 2011 totalled €14.9 billion, thus remaining broadly constant compared with the previous quarter. The number of beneficiaries of the Pensionskassen experienced a quarter-on-quarter rise of 0.52%. Currently some 780,000 people are in the pension company system, of whom around 68,000 people (8.8%) draw a pension from this form of company old-age provision. The news was disclosed in the Report on Q2 2011 Performance of Austrian Pensionskassen published today by the Financial Market Authority FMA.
As at the end of the second quarter, the asset allocation of the Pensionskassen was as follows: The largest single share in the portfolio continues to comprise government bonds and bonds guaranteed by states or regional governments, at 33.6%. The second largest share consists of equities, which make up 30.5%. Corporate bonds are the third largest group, comprising 17.5%. Bank deposits continue to make a large contribution to the portfolio, at 7.3%, although this figure has decreased by 2.3% in comparison with the previous quarter.
The volatility reserve rose once again in comparison with the 2009 financial year, by 1.1 percentage points to 4.4% of the premium reserve as at the end of the 2010 financial year. The volatility reserve forms the risk reserve for beneficiaries in the event that the actual results of investment do not live up to the expected investment performance.
As at the end of Q2 2011, around 38.7% of the total assets managed by Pensionskassen were in “balanced” investments according to the investment classes defined by OeKB (defensive, conservative, balanced, active and dynamic). The actual average share of equities in this group was 32.3%. Investment performance of this group in the second quarter of 2011 was around -1.4%. The second largest group, with 25.3% of total assets, comprised the “dynamic” investment and risk-sharing groups, which demonstrated a comparable investment result. The investment and risk-sharing groups that are classified as having “defensive” and “conservative” investments (average share of equities at 10.3% and 24.2% respectively) both succeeded in at least retaining the value of their assets in the two opening quarters.
You can find the full Quarterly Report (in German) on the FMA website at: https://www.fma.gv.at/pensionskassen/offenlegung/quartalsberichte/.
Journalists may address further enquiries to
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43 (0)1 24959 5106
+43 (0)676 882 49 514