Pension News Standard Life Leading Pension Funds

Written by Editorial Team

27 April 2005

Standard Life’s pension funds are ahead of those of Scottish Widows, according to a new survey.

The latest market survey of pooled pension fund returns found that overall the typical pension fund has recovered to 94 per cent of its asset value five years ago.

That means that balanced funds made an average return of two per cent in the first quarter of 2005.

In turn UK equity fund managers made an average 3.1 per cent after fees against the all-share index return of 3 per cent.

“Pension funds continued to claw back some of the losses they suffered during the bear market at the start of the decade,” commented Daniel Hall from Russell/Mellon.

“They still have some way to go, but, based on median performance, a typical pooled balanced fund would now be worth around 94 per cent of its asset value at the start of 2000.”

Standard’s £2.83 billion equity fund is currently the 15th best performing fund over 12 months with a return of 17.1 per cent.

In comparison, Scottish Widows’ £757 million flagship fund is 38th over the same period.

The new figures should come as good news for the government and industry analysts who are continuing to voice concerns that people are not saving enough for their retirements.

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