Nigerian pension funds continued their winning streak in January defiling the odds of stock market volatility to post positive gains. The Retirement Savings Account, RSA, category made an average of 0.42%, with returns ranging from 1.17% to negative 0.07%. Information about the performance of Premium Pensions RSA and First Guarantee Pensions RSA were not available and efforts to get such information yielded no result. Those are, therefore, excluded in this report. Below are the 5 best performing RSA funds as at the end of January 2019:
Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Oaks Pensions RSA Pension Fund 2
YTD Performance %: 1.17%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.03
Second Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Pension Alliance RSA fund 2
YTD Performance %: 0.88%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.03
3rd Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: AXA Mansard Pensions RSA Fund 2
YTD Performance %: 0.85%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.02
4th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: AIICO Pensions RSA Fund 2
YTD Performance %: 0.84%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.03
5th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Fidelity Pensions RSA Fund 2
YTD Performance %: 0.57%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.02
Retiree Fund Performance
Retiree Pension funds, otherwise known as fund 4, even performed better than RSA funds on account of their greater exposure to fixed income securities. On the average, Retiree funds generated a return of 0.9% in January 2019. The returns which ranged from 1.27% to negative .27% have Pension Alliance Retiree fund taking the lead. Here are the best 5 Retiree funds:
Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Pension Alliance Retiree Fund 4
YTD Performance %: 1.27%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.04
Second Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Radix Pensions Retiree fund 4
YTD Performance %: 1.26%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.02
3rd Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Fidelity Pensions Retiree Fund 4
YTD Performance %: 1.19%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.03
4th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Investment One Pensions Retiree Fund 4
YTD Performance %: 1.18%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.03
5th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: AIICO Pensions Retiree Fund 4
YTD Performance %: 1.11%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.04
Equity Exposure Hurts APT Pensions
APT Pensions keeps getting hurt by their high exposure to the equity market. With about 18% of their pension assets invested in equities, the highest in the industry. APT pensions RSA fund recorded a 0.07% negative return while its Retiree fund 4 recorded a negative 0.27% return in January. It may be time for APT investment committee to think of reallocating their assets away from the equity market unless there is some sort of crystal ball that tells them the equity market will rebound soon and for the long hall.
NSE Pensions Index Performance
Compared to the NSE Pensions Index, which is predominantly equity based, both RSA and Retiree funds outperformed the index. The January YTD performance of the index stood at -3.12%.
For a complete list of Retiree fund performance, contact Quantitative Financial Analytics Ltd.
