Italian pension fund assets reached €125.1bn at the end of 2024, according to Italy’s Pension Funds Supervisory Commission (COVIP), marking a 9.8 per cent increase on the previous year and amounting to 5.7 per cent of GDP.

Over the past decade, total assets have grown by €53.2bn, an average annual rise of 5.7 per cent, supported by positive contribution balances and improved investment performance.

Net contributions, after benefits, totalled €4.4bn, while investment returns averaged 7 per cent for the year; over a 10-year horizon, the annualised compound return stood at 2.9 per cent.

Regarding assets, pooled investment vehicles dominated; units in investment funds (OICR) accounted for €67.2bn or 53.7 per cent of assets, comprising €36.9bn in UCITS and €30.3bn in other funds, including €16.7bn in real estate funds.

Direct holdings amounted to €26.7bn in debt securities, €20.7bn of which were government bonds, and €10.4bn in equities.

When including the underlying bond and equity securities of UCITS held by pension funds, total bond exposure was €47.7bn (38.1 per cent of assets), equity exposure €24.2bn (19.4 per cent), and real estate exposure €19.8bn, the latter declining from 16.5 per cent in 2023 to 15.8 per cent in 2024.

In addition, COVIP highlighted substantial variation across individual pension funds.

For example, allocations to government bonds ranged from 0-73 per cent, with half of all funds between 11-25 per cent, while UCITS allocations ranged from 0-74 per cent, with half between 27-46 per cent. Real estate exposure, particularly directly held property, also showed wide dispersion.

Domestic investments amounted to €48.1bn, or 38.4 per cent of total assets, a slight decrease of 0.2 percentage points from 2023. Italian real estate remained the largest domestic asset class at €17.2bn (13.7 per cent), followed by Italian government bonds at €15.5bn (12.4 per cent).

Furthermore, investments in Italian companies totalled €9.6bn, equal to 7.6 per cent of assets, including €8.7bn in equities, €1.9bn of which represented stakes in the Bank of Italy, and €900m in corporate bonds. More than half of this corporate exposure was concentrated in the financial sector.

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