The French Pension Reserve Fund (FRR) has reported that it achieved a performance of 9.66 per cent in 2019, which it attributed to high returns from assets such as equities.

The FRR’s assets stood at €33.6bn at 31 December 2019, up from €32.65bn 12 months prior, even after a €2.1bn payment to social debt amortisation fund Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale (CADES).

Performance assets increased by 17.9 per cent during the year, while quality bond assets climbed by 3 per cent.

Looking to longer term changes, the figures mean that the annualised performance of the portfolio since 1 January 2011 is a 4.9 per cent increase in value net of all expenses, above the 1.05 per cent cost of the public debt borne by CADES.

The same period has seen performance assets and quality bond assets register increases in value of 84.7 per cent and 33.4 per cent respectively.

The FRR has paid €18.1bn to CADES since pension reforms were enacted in 2010, while also securing a net financial gain of €15.6bn and ensuring a reduction of anticipated decreases in the value of its portfolio.

The gearing ratio measuring the FRR’s capacity to service its liabilities increased by 25 percentage points over the year, from 185 per cent to 210 per cent, representing a surplus after payment of liabilities of €17.6bn at 31 December 2019,

This is an increase of €2.6bn compared to 2018, and an 86 per cent increase over the nine-year period since pension reforms at the beginning of the decade.

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