The average monthly return on investment of comprehensive pension funds in January-August 2009 was 2.23%, giving an average cumulative on investment of 19.31%. The average yield was 20.08%, taking into account the demographic yield.
The demographic yield takes into account demographic factors of pension fund investors, such as age, and the number of investors joining or leaving disability pension programs.
Excluding designated bonds, pension funds' average cumulative return on investment was 25.31% in January-August. Designated bonds are non-marketable securities issued by the government to pension funds. They represent about 30% of pension funds' assets, and bear an annual interest rate of 4.86%, with very low risk.
In August, comprehensive pension funds achieved an average return of 1.78% on investment, less than the monthly average so far this year, but continuing the positive trend of each month.
The top performing pension fund in January-August was Meitavit Atudot, owned by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS), with a return of 23.75%. It has NIS 10.55 billion in assets under management. Two funds of Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd. (TASE: HARL), Harel Pension Fund, with a return of 22.33%, and the Harel Gilad Fund, with a return of 20.73%, were in second and third place. Harel Pension Fund has NIS 4.88 billion in assets under management and Harel Gilad Fund has NIS 2.08 billion in assets under management.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 24, 2009
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