Pension Fund Statistics

Balance sheet (assets and liabilities) data for pension funds resident in Ireland (ESA 2010 sector S129) consists of financial corporations that principally engage in financial intermediation as a consequence of pooling social risks and providing for income in retirement. In Ireland, a pension fund is an autonomous occupational pension scheme established under trust.

Key Points - Q2 2025

Publication Date: 12 September 2025

  • Total assets of the Irish pension fund (PF) sector increased by 1.2 per cent in Q2 2025 to stand at €141 billion (Chart 1). This was driven by a rise in debt securities of 7.3 per cent and investment fund shares by 2.3 per cent. This growth was partially offset by a fall in holdings of currency & deposits and equity.
  • Technical reserves relating to pension entitlements increased by 2.2 per cent in Q2 2025 to stand at €133 billion (Chart 2). This was driven by an increase in defined contribution (DC) technical reserves of 3.7 per cent alongside an increase of 0.5 per cent in defined benefit (DB) technical reserves.1
  • Direct holdings of equities stood at €2.1 billion at the end of Q2 2025. The primary issuer country for equity investments was the United States at 46.1 per cent, while equity issued in Europe (excluding Ireland and the UK) accounted for 22.9 per cent of holdings.

Summary Charts

Chart 1: Assets of Irish pension funds

Chart displaying statistics for assets of Irish pension funds from 2020 to Q1 2025. All variables were lowest in Q1 2020 at 113 billion, and highest at 146 billion in Q4 2024. This took a dip in 2025 Q1 to 134 billion.

Chart 2: Liabilities of Irish pension funds

Chart showing statistics for liabilities of Irish pension funds from 2020 to Q1 2025. This includes DB pension entitlement, DC pension entitlements, financial derivatives, remaining liabilities, and net worth (RHS).

Chart 3: Direct equity holdings of Irish pension funds, by country of issuance – Q2 2025 

Read text below to help explain chart 3Other (ordered by largest to smallest holdings): Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, New Zealand, Israel, Turkey, Brazil, China, Guernsey, Curaçao, Jersey, Malaysia, Philippines, Isle Of Man.

 

Notes

[1] Defined benefit technical reserves includes hybrid schemes. Technical reserves are valued on an accounting standard basis. Defined benefit technical reserves and net worth are reported on an annual basis (at year end), values for other quarters are estimated and subject to revision on receipt of latest annual data.

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