Taiwanese pension funds overseen by the Bureau of Labor Funds (BLF) earned record income and return from investments last year as the artificial intelligence boom drove a global stock market rally.
The eight pension and annuity funds reported total investment income of NT$1.13 trillion (US$34.2 billion) for a return of 16.57%, bringing their combined assets to NT$7.68 trillion as of December 31.
The strong growth of industries related to AI technology that led the global stock rally was also reflected in Taiwan, where stocks benefited from strong performance of semiconductor and AI-related blue chips, the BLF says in a statement on February 3. Taiwan’s benchmark stock surged more than 28% last year.
At the same time, the pension supervisor pointed out that local small and mid-cap stocks were weak, weighed down by market uncertainties such as interest rate decisions of central banks and geopolitical conflicts.
“BLF closely monitors the financial market. It keeps focused on asset allocation and risk management to seize opportunities in turbulent markets and control downside risks,” it says. “We continue to pursue steady growth for the funds through long-term strategic allocation.”
The Labor Retirement Fund, Taiwan’s largest defined-benefit pension scheme, was the best performer among the eight funds with a return of 19.36% return. The Farmers’ Pension Fund was second with a return of 18.16%.