The net assets of Romanian mandatory pension funds have reached €1bn and have posted an average return of 15.1% during 2010, outperforming inflation (CPI 8%) and retail deposit interest rates (7.7%), the Romanian Pension Funds' Association (APAPR) has announced.

Romania’s mandatory pension fund posted an average return of 15.1% for 2010, with the net assets under management by the nine funds on the market reaching €1bn (RON 4.3bn). The total number of pension plan members reached 5.19 million, 275,000 more than at the beginning of the year.

Its voluntary pension funds posted an average return of 11.5% for the same period, while the net assets under management of the 13 funds on the market reached €76mn (RON 326mn). The total number of plan members was 220,000, only 33,000 more than at the end of 2009.

Since their inception, mandatory pension funds (launched in May 2008) returned an annualised average of 15.2%, while voluntary pension funds (launched in May 2007) posted an annualised average return of 8.9%.

Crinu Andanut, chairman of the APAPR said: “The investment performance of Romanian pension funds marks the end of another successful year for the industry, in spite of the very difficult economic context and financial markets' (both domestic and international) status.

“These double-digit returns are even more important while being achieved with a relatively low risk exposure, which is an essential feature of pension funds in Romania. The main beneficiaries of these positive results are the 5.3 million plan members of the pension funds, and, while still referring to a short time period, these results are the stepping stone on which we build the industry's long-term perspective.”

Share Story: