Irish pension managed funds delivered strong returns during January, as most global equity markets made gains over the month with the notable exception of the US. European markets rose on the announcement of quantitative easing by the ECB, and by the sharp fall in the Euro following the breaking by the Swiss National Bank of their Euro currency peg. The US market struggled however, as the dollar rose, oil prices fell and corporate earnings disappointed.

The mean managed fund gain for the month was 4.7%. Merrion Investment Managers and Standard Life Investments shared the top spot with returns of 5.4% for the month, while New Ireland propped up the league table with a return of 3.6%. Over the past twelve months, the average fund return was 22.3%. Returns for the year ranged from 24.6% (Davy Asset Management) to 16.6% (New Ireland).

The average managed fund return has been a very strong 15.9% per annum over the past three years. The five-year average return is a healthy 12.0% per annum. Irish group pension managed fund returns over the past ten years have been 6.1% per annum on average.