Pension fund

A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.

Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and private companies. They are especially important to the stock market where large institutional investors dominate. The largest 300 pension funds collectively hold about $6 trillion in assets.^[1] In January 2008, The Economist reported that Morgan Stanley estimates that pension funds worldwide hold over US$20 trillion in assets, the largest for any category of investor ahead of mutual funds, insurance companies, currency reserves, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, or private equity.^[2]

Although the (Japanese) Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) lost 0.25 percent, in the year ended March 31, 2011 GPIF was still the world's largest public pension fund which oversees 114 trillion Yen ($1.5 trillion).^[3]

Classifications

Open vs. closed pension funds

Open pension funds support at least one pension plan with no restriction on membership while closed pension funds support only pension plans that are limited to certain employees.^[4]

Closed pension funds are further subclassified into:

• Single employer pension funds
• Multi-employer pension funds
• Related member pension funds
• Individual pension funds

Public vs. private pension funds

A public pension fund is one that is regulated under public sector law while a private pension fund is regulated under private sector law.

In certain countries the distinction between public or government pension funds and private pension funds may be difficult to assess. In others, the distinction is made sharply in law, with very specific requirements for administration and investment. For example, local governmental bodies in the United States are subject to laws passed by the states in which those localities exist, and these laws include provisions such as defining classes of permitted investments and a minimum municipal obligation.^[5]

Largest pension funds

Country	Fund	Assets US$ (in billions)	Inception	Origin
United States	Federal Old-age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund	$2645[6]	1935	Non-commodity
Japan	Government Pension Investment Fund	$1370[7]	2006	Non-commodity
Norway	Government Pension Fund of Norway	$856[8]	1990	Oil
United States	Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund	$850[9]	1920	Non-commodity
United States	Military Retirement Fund	$474[10]		Non-commodity
Netherlands	Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (ABP)	$388[11] (€344)	1922	Non-commodity
United States	Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)	$407[12]	1986	Non-commodity
South Korea	National Pension Service (NPS)	$400[13]	1988	Non-commodity
United States (California)	California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS)	$289.8[14]	1932	Non-commodity
Netherlands	Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW, formerly PGGM)	$183[15] (€162)	1969	Non-commodity
United States (California)	California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS)	$189.1[16]	1913	Non-commodity
Canada	Canada Pension Plan and CPP Investment Board	$209 (CAD$234)[17]	1965	Non-commodity
China	National Social Security Fund	$177.4[18]	2000	Non-commodity
Canada (Quebec)	Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (The Caisse, or CDPQ)	$176[19]	1965	Non-commodity
Malaysia	Employees Provident Fund	$130[20]	1991	Non-commodity
Canada (Ontario)	Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan	$130	1990	Non-commodity
Brazil	Caixa de Previdencia dos Funcionários do Banco do Brasil (PREVI)	$80	1904	Finance
Ireland	National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF)	$30[21]	2001	Non-commodity
France	Pensions Reserve Fund (France) (NPRF)	$56[22]	2001	Non-commodity
United States	Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund	$43[6]	1935	Non-commodity

By country

Australia

Government

• Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (for federal civil servants)
• Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (older scheme for federal civil servants)
• State Super (for New South Wales state civil servants)

Industry (not-for-profit)

• Sunsuper

Private

• The Retail Employees Superannuation Trust
• ANZ Australian Staff Superannuation Scheme (for employees of ANZ Bank)

Brazil

• Previ
• Petros
• Funcef
• Valia
• Fundação Banrisul
• Fundação CESP
• Fundação Itaubanco
• Sistel
• Banesprev
• Forluz
• Centrus
• Baneses
• Aceprev

Canada

Government

• Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
• Public Sector Pension Investment Board
• Alberta Investment Management

Private

• Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan CAAT)
• Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
• Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
• OMERS Administration Corporation (OMERS)
• Ontario Pension Board (OPB)
• OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust)
• BC Pension Corporation including the College Pension Plan, the Municipal Pension Plan, the Public Service Pension Plan, the Teachers' Pension Plan, and WorkSafeBC

Chile

• Chile pension system
• AFP Modelo

China

• National Social Security Fund (Chinese: 全国社会保障基金理事会)

Greece

Government

• Public Employees Pension Fund

Private

• TAPILTAT, the Fund for Mutual Assistance of the Employees of Ioniki Bank and Other Banks, the multi-employer auxiliary pension fund.

Hong Kong

• Mandatory Provident Fund

India

• Employees Provident Fund - A Statutory body of the Government Of India that administers a compulsory Provident Fund Scheme, Pension Scheme and an Insurance Scheme. Provident Fund is applicable across for employees across establishments (Private as well as Govt - subject to criteria). EPF is the Largest Social Security Organisations in India with Assets well over 5 Lakh Crore (US$91 Billion) as of 2013. EPF
• National Pension Scheme - A defined-contribution-based pension scheme launched by the Government Of India open to all Citizens of India on a voluntary basis and mandatory for the employees of Central Government (except Indian Armed Forces) who are appointed on or after 1 January 2004. Indian citizens between the age of 18-55 are eligible to join. PFRDA

Japan

• See Japan Pension Service
• Government Pension Investment Fund, Japan (GPIF, 年金積立金管理運用独立行政法人)

Malaysia

• Employees Provident Fund (Malaysia's largest, total assets of around RM407 billion in diversified portfolio)^[20]

Morocco

• Caisse de dépôt et de gestion
• CMR (French)

Netherlands

• Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (ABP)
• Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW, formerly PGGM)

Norway

• The Government Pension Fund - Global (Statens pensjonsfond - Utland)
• The Government Pension Fund - Norway (Statens pensjonsfond - Norge)

Romania

The pension system in Romania is made of 3 pillars, one is the state pension (Pillar I - Mandatory), second is a private mandatory pension were the state transfers a percentage of the contribution it collects for the public pension and third an optional private pension (Pillar III - Voluntary).

The Financial Supervisory Authority - Private Pension is responsible for the supervision and regulation of the private pension system.^[23]

Saudi Arabia

• Public Pension Agency (PPA)

• the general organization for social insurance

Singapore

• Central Provident Fund

Switzerland

• Pension system in Switzerland

Turkey

Government

• Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu (Social Security Institution, SGK)

Social Security Institution was established by the Social Security Institution Law No:5502 which was published in the Official Gazette No: 26173 dated 20.06.2006 and brings the Social Insurance Institution, General Directorate of Bağ-kur and General Directorate of Emekli Sandığı whose historical development are summarized above under a single roof in order to transfer five different retirement regimes which are civil servants, contractual paid workers, agricultural paid workers, self-employers and agricultural self-employers into a single retirement regime that will offer equal actuarial rights and obligations. The Social Security Institution is continuing its activities to provide better quality of services for our citizens with the participation of whole staff putting all their energy individually and institutionally.

Private

• Armed Forces Pension Fund

OYAK, (Ordu Yardımlaşma Kurumu/Armed Forces Pension Fund) provides its members with "supplementary retirement benefits" apart from the official retirement fund, T.C.Emekli Sandığı/SSK, to which they are primarily affiliated.

In addition to the retirement benefit, OYAK pays "disability benefits" to the members on duty when they become partially or fully disabled as well as "death benefits" to the heirs of the deceased member if the death occurs during the member's subscription to the Foundation.

OYAK is incorporated as a private entity under its own law subject to Turkish civic and commercial codes. OYAK while fulfilling its legal duties, as set in the Law, also provides its members with social services such as loans, home loans and retirement income systems.

The initial source of OYAK's funds is a compulsory 10 percent levy on the base salary of Turkey's 200,000 serving officers who, together with 25,000 current pensioners, make up OYAK's members.

Some other Turkish private pension funds:

• YAPI ve KREDİ BANKASI A.Ş. Mensupları Yardım ve Emekli Sandığı Vakfı
• AKBANK T.A.Ş. Mensupları Tekaüt Sandığı Vakfı
• TÜRKİYE GARANTİ BANKASI A.Ş. Memur ve Müstahdemleri Emekli ve Yardım Sandığı Vakfı
• TÜRKİYE ODALAR BORSALAR VE BİRLİK PERSONELİ SİGORTA VE EMEKLİ SANDIĞI VAKFI
• TÜRKİYE İŞ BANKASI A.Ş. Mensupları Emekli Sandığı Vakfı

United States

In the United States pension funds include schemes which result in a deferral of income by employees, even if retirement income provision isn't the intent.^[24] The United States has $24.5 trillion in retirement and pension assets ($15.5 trillion in private funds, $9 trillion in public funds) as of June 30, 2014.^[25] The largest 200 pension funds accounted for $4.540 trillion as of September 30, 2009.^[26]

Government

• California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS)
• California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS)
• Civil Service Retirement System
• Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado (FPPA)
• Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund
• Kansas City Public School Retirement System (KCPSRS)
• Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS)
• Minnesota Public Employees' Retirement Association (MNPERA)
• Minnesota Teachers' Retirement Association (MNTRA)
• New York State Teachers' Retirement System (NYSTRS)
• Railroad Retirement Board
• Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA)
• Social Security Trust Fund
• Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS of Texas)
• Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)

See also

• Pension regulation
• Global assets under management
• Pension insurance contract
• Sovereign wealth fund
• Qualifying registered overseas pension schemes

References

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