At the start of the month, both equity and bond markets declined in response to the rejection by the Greek people of the bailout package on offer at a referendum on 5 July. However, subsequent to this, agreement was reached in principle between the Greek government and its creditors for a larger bailout with stricter terms – seen as preferable to leaving the euro, which was the only other option available. Following this agreement, markets rallied to end the month in positive territory.

Irish pension managed funds delivered positive returns on average during July, with the average gain being 2.2%. Zurich Life were ranked top this month with a return of 3.5%, while Setanta Asset Management propped up the league table with a return of 1.3%. The first seven months of 2015 have seen very strong pension managed fund returns, with an average return of 12.5%. Merrion Investment Managers top the table over the year to date with a return of 16.4%, while Setanta Asset Management produced the lowest return at 9.5%. Over the past twelve months, the average fund return was 22.1%. Returns for the year ranged from 28.5% (Merrion Investment Managers) to 15.4% (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 16.2% per annum over the past three years. The five-year average return is a healthy 12.4% per annum. Irish group pension managed fund returns over the past ten years have been 5.8% per annum on average.