Pension Fund Statistics – Q2 2022

Publication Date: September 20 2022

Key Points

• Total assets of the Irish pension fund sector fell by 9.3 per cent (€12.3 billion) over Q2 2022 to stand at €119.5 billion. Decreases in investment fund shares (€5.6 billion) and pension fund reserves (€5.1 billion) accounted for the majority of the fall.
• Technical reserves relating to pension entitlements of Irish pension funds also decreased in Q2 2022. Defined contribution technical reserves fell as a result of falls in corresponding assets.  Estimated defined benefit technical reserves fell predominantly due to increases in discount rates.[1] The reduction in liabilities exceeded the fall in assets, continuing the recent trend of improvements in sector net worth.
• The main asset types of Irish pension funds have experienced negative price changes for consecutive quarters. While these percentage decreases are similar in magnitude to Q1 2020 for most asset types, debt securities have fallen by a greater amount.  

[1] Data relating to defined benefit technical reserves and net worth are reported in Q4 on an annual basis, values for other quarters are estimated and subject to revision on receipt of latest annual data.

Summary Charts

Chart 1: Total assets of Irish pension funds by instrument type

Chart 2: Technical reserves and net worth of Irish pension funds