Keva, Finland’s largest earnings-related pension provider, has seen an investment return of 7.6 per cent in the first half of 2019, with listed equities returning 13.8 per cent.

In its interim report, published on the Finnish Pension Alliance’s (Tela) website, Keva noted that its investments in local government pension funding and pension fund investments yielded a return of €3.8bn.

The market value of all investments reached €53.5bn at the end of June, up from a market value of €52.1bn at the same time last year.

The pensions provider saw its listed equity return reach 13.8 per cent, fixed income investments returned 4.8 per cent and private equity and hedge fund investments reached 4.8 per cent. Real estate investments, including real estate funds, reached 1.8 per cent.

Fixed-income, including the impact of derivatives, accounted for 40.4 per cent of Keva's total assets at the end of the period, while equities and equity funds accounted for 36.3 per cent. Private equity accounted for 9.6 per cent, hedge funds 7.4 per cent and real estate 6.3 per cent.

Commenting on the report, Keva CEO Timo Kietäväinen said the provider also has seen progress in its reform projects over the period: “The implementation of the strategy adopted in the spring, and the development of e-services are accelerating, while the processing times for pension applications have remained good,” he said.

CIO Ari Huotari noted that markets will continue to be overshadowed by fading economic growth expectations and “different stages of the trade war”.

In the first half, premiums totalled €2.5bn and municipal pensions were paid €2.7bn. At the end of June, there were approximately 545,000 persons insured with earnings-related pensions from Keva. Municipal salaries decreased by 2 per cent, premiums decreased by 1.7 per cent, while pensions expenses increased by 5.1 per cent.

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