Pension reserve fund drops by €1.2bn

THE value of the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) fell 5.3% — €1.2 billion — in the first four months of the year, with the losses arising from Government-directed investments in AIB and Bank of Ireland.

The Government ordered the NPRF to take stakes in the country’s two largest banks as part of efforts to shore up the domestic banking system. The fund holds nearly 92.8% of AIB’s share capital and has a 36% stake in Bank of Ireland (BoI).

The NPRF has two main elements: a discretionary portfolio, which made a slight profit of 0.3%, and a directed portfolio, which holds the investments in the two banks.