The total assets managed by Austrian Pensionskassen (pension companies) stood at EUR 22.6 billion at the end of the 1st quarter of 2019, an increase of 5.7% compared with the previous quarter. The highest proportion, EUR 20.6 billion (+5.8%) is managed by the five multi-employer PKs, with the four single-employer Pensionskassen managed EUR 2 billion(+4.9%). The total number of beneficiaries (entitled and recipients) rose by 1.2% to approximately 959,000 during the same period. Consequently 22.2% of the non-self-employed working population at least has an entitlement to an annuity from this form of company old-age provision. The number of people already drawing such a pension stood at approx. 105,500 at the end of the 1st Quarter of 2019, 1.4% more than in the preceding quarter. These findings emerged from the “Q1 2019 Quarterly Report for Pensionskassen” that was published today by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA).
Investment category
The investment strategy of the Pensionskassen barely changed during the observation period. Approx. 96.60% of the assets of the Pensionskassen were held indirectly via investment funds. This can be broken down into the following investment categories: Cash at banks 6.94%, Loans 1.02%, Debt securities 46.44%, Shares 32.12%, Real estate 4.62% and other assets 8.86%. 30.62% of the investment volume is held – after hedges – in foreign currencies.
Investment performance
The investment performance that is calculated by the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB) on a quarterly basis stood in the 1st quarter of 2019 at +5.2% (multi-employer PKs +5.3%; single-employer PKs +4.4%). On average over the past three years, performance stood at +3.5% (multi-employer +3.4%; single-employer +4.5%), over the last five years at +3.7% (multi-employer +3.6%; single-employer +4.6%) and over the last ten years at +4.7% (multi-employer +4.5%; single-employer +5.8%).
The full report can be found on the FMA website (in German only) at:
https://www.fma.gv.at/pensionskassen/offenlegung/quartalsberichte/
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43/(0)676 88 249 516