Irish pension funds declined 0.3% on average during September. Standard Life Investments topped the league table with a gain of just 0.1%, while Merrion Investment Managers lagged the peer group with a return of -0.8%.

However, gains in two of the last three months mean that managed funds made strong gains over the third quarter, with an average return of 3.1%. Aviva Investors and Friends First/BMO turned in the best quarterly performances with gains of 3.9%, while Merrion Investment Managers delivered the worst, with a gain of 1.0%.

The first nine months of 2016 have seen pension funds gain a meagre 0.8% on average. This figure masks a wide range of performances, however, as returns for the year to date ranged from 7.0% (Setanta Asset Management) to -5.8% (Merrion Investment Managers), representing a difference of almost 13% between the best and worst performing funds so far this year. Over the past twelve months the average fund return was 6.9%. Setanta Asset Management top the table over the past year with a return of 12.6%, while Merrion Investment Managers produced the lowest return at -0.2%.

The average managed fund return has been a strong 10.4% per annum over the past three years. The five-year average return is a healthy 13.0% per annum. Irish group pension managed fund returns over the past ten years have been 4.3% per annum on average.