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 - Q3 2024

Publication Date: 16 December 2024

• Total assets of the Irish pension fund (PF) sector increased by 2.4 per cent in Q3 2024 to stand at €142 billion (Chart 1). This was driven by a continued upward trend in insurance technical reserves (ITRs)¹, which grew by 4.7 per cent (€3.6 billion) over the quarter.
• Technical reserves relating to pension entitlements increased by 6.4 per cent in Q3 2024 to stand at 135 billion (Chart 2). This was driven by a growth in defined contribution (DC) technical reserves of 4.5 per cent as well as a growth of 8.7 per cent in defined benefit (DB) technical reserves².  In line with this, net worth decreased by around 40 per cent (€6.9 billion).
• While insurance technical reserves (ITRs) constitute the largest asset holdings of the overall Irish pension fund sector this quarter, their share as a percentage of total assets varies across sub-sectors (Chart 3). In Q3 2024, DC PFs held 92 per cent (€55 billion) of their total assets in ITRs, whereas DB PFs held 30 per cent (€25 billion).  Investment fund shares (IFs) represent the largest asset holding for DB PFs, accounting for 42 per cent of their total assets (€35 billion) in Q3 2024. On the contrary, DC PFs have experienced a shift away from investment fund holdings with their share as a percentage of total assets falling to stand at 8 per cent (€5 billion).

Summary Charts

Chart 1: Assets of Irish pension funds

Chart 2: Liabilities of Irish pension funds

Chart 3: Assets of Irish pension funds (by subsector)

Notes

[1] In the pension funds context insurance technical reserves (ITRs) are assets relating to claims on insurance corporations by pension funds (also known as pension fund reserves) while pension entitlement technical reserves are liabilities relating to claims on pension funds by households.

[2] 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.

Explore Pension Fund Statistics in Open Data Format