Figures show Irish pension funds perform strongly in third quarter

THE last three months proved to be the best performing quarter for Irish pension funds in the last 10 years.

According to new figures, released yesterday by Dublin firm Rubicon Investment Consulting, pension funds showed positive returns – of 2.6% on average – for the seventh consecutive month in September.

For that month, alone, Irish Life Investment Managers’ funds performed best, showing a 3.1% return; with Friends First/F&C at the bottom of the monthly league table with a 2.1% return. All of the 10 funds showed positive returns for the month. The third quarter, as a whole, showed a combined average return of 11.8%; once again Irish Life leading the pack with a 14.7% rate of return. With a 10.6% return rate, Aviva Investors was the worst performing fund manager for the three months from July to the end of September.