Unlike the past years when government paper would offset a slower season on the stock market, the crisis in Greece and the plunge of the Chinese stock market made a negative impact on all financial markets.
The seven mandatory private pension funds (pillar II) to which more than 6 million Romanians contribute 5% of their salaries posted 2.28% to 3.48% yields in December 31, 2014 to August 21, 2015, according to ZF’s calculations based on the latest information released by their managers.
The yields calculated by ZF are from before August 24, when the Bucharest Stock Exchange posted its steepest daily decline in years, 6.3%. Only two pension funds had updated their NAV by August 27. To be able to compare the yields, ZF chose the August 21 NAV available for all funds.
The leading fund was Alico, managed by Metropolitan Life, whose yield stood at about 3.5% this year, followed by the BCR fund, 3.46% and Vital, managed by Aegon, 3.45%. Pillar II pension fund yields were as high as 7.3% and the average yield was over 6%, twice higher than this year’s.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)