It was all eyes on Europe this month, as profit-taking hit the bond markets and concerns continued over Greece's future. Equity markets mostly delivered positive returns however, on the back of low interest rates and strong corporate earnings. Ongoing euro weakness improved the return on overseas assets for Irish investors.

Irish pension managed funds delivered positive returns on average during May, with the average gain of the funds surveyed being 1.8%. Zurich Life were ranked top this month with a return of 2.4%, while New Ireland propped up the league table with a return of 0.9%. The first five months of 2015 have seen very strong pension managed fund returns, with a survey average of 13.8%. Merrion Investment Managers top the table over the year to date with a return of 17.3%, while Setanta Asset Management produced the lowest return at 11.9%. Over the past twelve months, the average fund return was 25.5%. Returns for the year ranged from 32.3% (Merrion Investment Managers) to 19.1% (New Ireland), representing a difference of over 13% between the best and worst performing funds over the past twelve months.

The average managed fund return has been a very strong 18.6% per annum over the past three years. The five-year average return is a healthy 12.8% per annum. Irish group pension managed fund returns over the past ten years have been 6.6% per annum on average.