Taiwan pension funds overseen by the Bureau of Labor Funds (BLF) registered NT$965.9 billion (US$30.23 billion) of investment income in the eight months to end-August, up 67.3% from NT$577.36 billion in the same period a year ago.
The eight labour pension and annuity funds posted 14.32% of investment returns during the eight-month period, against 10.44% in the same period in 2023.
“Although the global market environment was increasingly volatile in August, BLF funds managed to achieve NT$1.34 billion of single-month investment income,” Li-Ju Liu, deputy director general of BLF, says in a statement on October 1.
Liu continues that BLF’s focus is on portfolio diversification across domestic and overseas equities, fixed income and alternatives to mitigate single financial market fluctuation.
In light of uncertainties such as global geopolitical tensions and the upcoming US presidential election, BLF will stay focused on enhancing long-term investment return and portfolio allocation, as well as closely monitoring global market trends, she adds.
The eight funds’ ten-year annualised investment return was 6.75% as of end-August 2024.
The Labor Retirement Fund, Taiwan’s largest defined-benefit pension scheme, was the best performing BLF fund from January to end-August with a 16.71% investment return. It was followed by the Labor Insurance Fund, Taiwan’s largest worker insurance scheme, which delivered an investment return of 15.41%.
The eight funds had NT$7.42 trillion of combined assets as of end-August 2024.