Taiwan’s pension and annuity funds overseen by the Bureau of Labour Funds (BLF) earned NT$464.5 billion (US$14.67 billion) of investment income and a return of 5.67% in the first quarter, with the pension supervisor emphasising how they focused on diversification to navigate volatility from the war in the Middle East.
It was a turnaround from a year ago when the eight funds incurred a loss of NT$73.9 billion and a minus 1% return when global markets were reeling from the US-China trade war.
The BLF published the investment figures in a statement posted on its website on May 4.
According to the pension supervisor, the eight funds diversified their allocations across domestic and international equities, bonds and alternatives to mitigate the impact of market volatility.
“The global financial markets were mainly affected by the US-Iran conflict in March, leading to increased volatility,” the BLF says. “Although the market experienced significant fluctuations that impacted short-term yields, the funds continued to focus on pursuing long-term investment returns.”
The Labour Retirement Fund, Taiwan’s largest defined-benefit retirement scheme, was the best performer with a return of 9.83% in the three months to March.
The eight funds had NT$8.9 trillion of assets as of end-March, up 14.1% from NT$7.8 trillion a year ago.
