Irish pension funds declined 0.5% on average during August. Friends First/BMO turned in the best performance this month with a flat return, while New Ireland delivered the worst, with a return of -1.2%.

After four consecutive months of negative returns, pension funds are up just 1.7% on average over the first eight months of 2017. This figure masks a wide range of performances, however, as returns for the year to date ranged from 4.4% (Standard Life Investments) to -0.6% (Merrion Investment Managers). Over the past twelve months the average fund return was a respectable 6.5%. Zurich Life top the table over the past year with a return of 9.0%, while Merrion Investment Managers produced the lowest return at 3.9%.

The average managed fund return has been a healthy 7.5% per annum over the past three years. The five-year average return is a strong 10.4% per annum. Irish group pension managed fund returns over the past ten years have been 4.4% per annum on average.