Top pension fund assets hit new $15 trillion high

Total assets of the world's largest 300 pension funds grew by over 6% in 2013 to reach a new high of almost US$15 trillion, freshly released figures showed today. The calculations have come from research produced by US investments newspaper Pensions & Investments and Towers Watson. This showed that the world's top 300 pension funds now represent around 47% of global pension assets.Looking at individual region, Latin American and African funds had the highest five-year combined compound growth rate of over 16% (coming up from a low base) compared to Europe (12%), North America (around 6%) and Asia-Pacific (around 5%)According to the research, defined benefit funds accounted for 67% of total assets, down from 75% five years ago.During 2013, DB assets grew by around 3%, compared to reserve funds (15%), defined contribution plans (over 9%) and hybrids (over 8%).Chris Ford, global head of Investment at Towers Watson, said: "Quantitative easing and easy monetary conditions have provided an unexpected tailwind for equity markets for the last five years or so, which continued strongly in 2013." This clearly helped many funds given their high allocation to equities. "Despite ongoing high performance from equities many funds, particularly more mature funds, continue to diversify into other asset classes as they de-risk their portfolios. "There is also broad acknowledgement that QE and low interest rates will not last forever and that recent exceptional equity market growth is unlikely to repeat in 2015." {desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile} According to the research, the US remained the country with the largest share of pension fund assets accounting for 36%. Japan had the second-largest market share of around 13%, largely because of the Government Pension Investment Fund.That fund, which is still at the top of the ranking - a position it has held for the past ten years - had assets of around US$1.2 trillion.Mr Ford added: "It is noteworthy that the 13 major pensions markets are now more than double the size they were ten years ago and pension assets now amount to around 78% of global GDP, substantially higher than the 61% recorded in 2008."Total assets of the world's largest 300 pension funds grew by around 10% in 2012.

Top pension fund assets hit new $15 trillion high

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