Assets under management held by Czech pension scheme participants totalled more than CZK 700bn at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of 2026, an increase of CZK 40.3bn compared with the end of the first quarter, according to the Association of Pension Companies of the Czech Republic (APS ČR) Q2 results.

The Q2 results also highlighted that for the first time in the history of the pension system, the funds invested in the new Czech Republic pension scheme (DPS) exceeded the total assets of participants in the old supplementary pension scheme (PP).

According to the results, participants’ assets under management as of 30 June 2026 amounted to approximately CZK 368bn for the DPS and CZK 332bn for the PP.

Additionally, within the DPS, dynamic funds achieved a return of 11.45 per cent in the first half of the year, balanced funds achieved a return of 6.89 per cent and conservative funds achieved a return of 1.82 per cent.

At the end of the second quarter of 2026, 3,872,674 participants were saving and investing with pension companies and in supplementary pension savings, with 2,297,393 participants investing in DPS and 1,575,281 investing in PP.

The number of participants under the age of 18 at the end of the quarter stood at 178,963, with an average monthly contribution of CZK 610.

The update also reiterated APS ČR’s call for amendments to the Ministry of Finance’s proposed pension reform, which is currently under discussion, particularly its proposed changes to the fees charged to pension companies.

APS ČR argued that the proposed uniform fee of 0.5 per cent of assets under management would restrict APS ČR from achieving high results for its clients and could push pension companies towards purchasing cheaper assets, such as US ETFs.

It also suggested that this could narrow investment portfolios, increase risk and limit pension companies’ ability to offset these risks through active portfolio management.

Commenting on the issue, APS ČR spokesperson, Jan Sedláček, said that to maintain returns from third-pillar retirement savings at levels comparable to those achieved by pension funds in recent years, the fee should be set at least in line with pension companies’ operating costs (estimated at 0.82 per cent in an EY study).

Alternatively, Sedláček suggested pension companies should be allowed to charge participants for third-party costs, as is common practice among other investment companies, rather than having to cover these expenses entirely from the single fee, which is designed to cover pension companies' own costs.

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