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 A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

where large

institutional investor An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...

s dominate. The largest 300 pension funds collectively hold about

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

trillion ''Trillion'' is a number with two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English. * 1,000,000,000,0 ...

in assets. In 2012,

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

estimated that pension funds worldwide hold over $33.9 trillion in assets (and were expected to grow to more than $56 trillion by 2020), the largest for any category of

ahead of

mutual fund A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV i ...

insurance companies Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

currency reserves Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, influence ...

sovereign wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sovereign investment fund, or social wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such ...

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

s, or

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

. The Federal Old-age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which oversees $2.66 trillion in assets, is the world's largest public pension fund.

Classifications

Open vs. closed pension fund

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. 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.

Largest pension funds

The following table lists largest pension funds by total assets by the SWF Institute.

By country

Australia

Government

Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

(old scheme for federal civil servants) *

Military Superannuation and Benefits Scheme A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

(current scheme for Australian Defence Force personnel) * Public Sector Superannuation accumulation plan (current scheme for federal civil servants) *

Public Sector Superannuation Scheme In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

(old scheme for federal civil servants) * State Super (for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

civil servants)

Industry (not-for-profit)

AustralianSuper AustralianSuper is an Australian superannuation fund headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. With approximately one in every ten Australian workers as members, it is Australia's largest superannuation fund. AustralianSuper is an industry superan ...

* AustSafe Super * CareSuper *

Cbus The CBUS was a free downtown circulator bus in Columbus, Ohio. The service was operated by the Central Ohio Transit Authority. The CBUS service primarily traveled along High Street between the Brewery District and the Short North. The servic ...

Energy Super In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat ...

* FIRSTSUPER * HESTA *

Hostplus Hostplus is an industry superannuation An industry superannuation fund (or, simply, 'industry fund') is an Australian superannuation fund originally established to provide for the retirement of workers from a specific industry. While indust ...

* legalsuper * LUCRF Super *

Media Super Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

* MTAA Super (Spirit Super) *

NGS Super NGS may refer to: Places * NGSO (NGS orbit), non-geostationary orbit * Nagasaki Airport (IATA airport code: NGS) in Omura, Nagasaki, Japan Organisations * National Galleries of Scotland, representing the national art collection of Scotland * N ...

REI Super Rei or REI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Rei, a story arc of the anime '' Higurashi When They Cry'' *Rei, a shapeshifting godlike dragon in the Australian webcomic series ''Vainglorious'' *Rei I, II and III, episodes of ''Neon Genesis Ev ...

* TWUSUPER *

UniSuper UniSuper is an Australian superannuation fund that provides superannuation services to employees of Australia's higher education and research sector. The fund has over 450,000 members and $100 billion in assets (funds under management and total ...

Retail Employees Superannuation Trust Rest Super is an Australian industry superannuation fund established in 1988. It is one of Australia's largest superannuation funds by membership, with around 1.9 million members in June 2022. Rest currently manages A$66 billion in funds. Go ...

Private

* ANZ Australian Staff Superannuation Scheme (for employees of ANZ Bank)

Brazil

* Aceprev * Baneses * Banesprev * Centrus * FAPES * Forluz * Funcef * Fundação Banrisul * Fundação CESP * Fundação Itaubanco * Petros * PREVI - Caixa de Previdência dos Funcionários do Banco do Brasil (the closed private pension fund for employees of the Brazilian federal government-owned bank) * Sistel * Valia

Canada

Government

Alberta Investment Management Corporation Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) is an Albertan Crown corporation and institutional investor established to manage several public funds and pensions headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. AIMCo was established by an act of the Legi ...

Alberta Pensions Services Corporation The Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS) is a Crown corporation responsible for providing pension benefit administration services for public-sector employees in Alberta, Canada. Based in Edmonton, APS administers seven statutory public sec ...

* British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCIMC) 455 *

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ; ) is an institutional investor that manages several public and parapublic pension plans and insurance programs in Quebec. CDPQ was founded in 1965 by an act of the National Assembly, under the go ...

Canada Pension Plan The Canada Pension Plan (CPP; french: Régime de pensions du Canada) is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It forms one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other component being Old ...

(investments directed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) *

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...

(HOOPP) * Ontario Teachers Pension Plan * Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System *

Public Sector Pension Investment Board The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) is a Canadian Crown corporation established by an act of Parliament in September 1999. PSP Investments is one of Canada's largest pension investment managers, with CAD $204.5 billion of ...

(PSP Investments) * OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust) *

Ontario Pension Board The Ontario Pension Board in Canada is an independent organization responsible for administering defined-benefit pensions for certain employees of the provincial government and its agencies, boards, and commissions. History Ontario Pension Bo ...

(OPB) *

TTC Pension Plan TTC may refer to: In arts and entertainment * Tao Te Ching, the collection of sayings attributed to Lao Tzu * Tom Tom Club, an American new wave band * The Travel Channel, a cable channel devoted to travel * The Tennis Channel, a digital channel ...

(TTCPP) * University Pension Plan (UPP)

Private

* Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan (CAAT) *

Boilermakers A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

Pension Fund Trust * Labourers' Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada (

LIUNA The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA, stylized as LiUNA!), often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of who ...

) *

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the ...

Canadian Pension Plan *

Telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

Workers Pension Plan *

UFCW The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

Canadian Pension Plan

Chile

* AFP Modelo *

Chile pension system The Chile pension system (Spanish: ''Sistema Previsional'') refers to old-age, disability and survivor pensions for workers in Chile. The pension system was changed by José Piñera, during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, on November 4, 1980 from ...

China

* – managed by

National Council for Social Security Fund The National Social Security Fund is a supplementary fund of the People's Republic of China which is used for social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society ...

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 The Mandatory Provident Fund (), often abbreviated as MPF (), is a compulsory saving scheme (pension fund) for the retirement of residents in Hong Kong. Most employees and their employers are required to contribute monthly to mandatory provident f ...

Scheme (MPF Schemes) * Occupational Retirement Schemes (ORSO Schemes)

India

Employees' Provident Fund Organisation The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is one of the two in statutory social security bodies under the Government of India's Ministry of Labour and Employment and is responsible for regulation and management of provident funds in I ...

– a statutory social security body of the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

that administers a mandatory Provident Fund Scheme, Pension Scheme and a death/disability Insurance Scheme. Provident Fund is applicable for employees across all establishments (private as well as government, subject to criteria). EPFO is the largest social security organisation in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with assets well over 5 lakh crore (US$159 billion) as of 2014. *

National Pension Scheme National Pension System Trust (NPS Trust) is a specialised division of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. The National Pension System (NPS) is ...

– a defined-contribution–based pension scheme launched by the

open to all citizens of

on a voluntary basis and mandatory for the employees of central government (except

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

) who are appointed on or after 1 January 2004. Indian citizens between the age of 18 and 70 are eligible to join.

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)

Morocco

Caisse de dépôt et de gestion The Caisse de dépot et de gestion (French for Deposit and Management Fund, shortened as CDG) is a state-owned financial institution which manages long-term savings in Morocco. Given its substantial assets it also acts as a large investor in the c ...

* CMR

Nepal

Employees Provident Fund Nepal Employees Provident Fund (Nepali:कर्मचारी सञ्चय कोष) Nepal is the pension fund/provident fund for employees of government and private sector of Nepal. The Fund is currently managing provident funds of 600,000 employee ...

Netherlands

* Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (ABP) *

Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (known as PFZW, formerly PGGM, translation: "Pension Fund for Care and Well-Being") is the second largest pension fund in the Netherlands. As of 31 December 2014, PFZW had total assets under management of ...

(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 three pillars. One is the state pension (Pillar I – Mandatory), the second is a private mandatory pension where the state transfers a percentage of the contribution it collects for the public pension, and the third is 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.

Saudi Arabia

Public Pension Agency (PPA) In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

* General Organization for Social Insurance

Serbia

*The pension system in Serbia is made of three pillars. One is the state pension (Pillar I – Mandatory), where every insured person is obliged to pay contributions from their paycheck, the second is a voluntary state pension, where an uninsured person is voluntarily included in state pension system, and the third is an optional private pension (Pillar III – Voluntary). * Pension and disability insurance fund

Singapore

Central Provident Fund The Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB), commonly known as the CPF Board or simply the Central Provident Fund (CPF), is a compulsory comprehensive savings and pension plan for working Singaporeans and permanent residents primarily to fund thei ...

Switzerland

Pension system in Switzerland The Swiss pension system rests on three pillars: *the state-run pension scheme for the aged, orphans, and surviving spouses *the pension funds run by investment foundations, which are tied to employers *voluntary, private investments Overview ...

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.

Private

* Armed Forces Pension Fund

OYAK Ordu Yardımlaşma Kurumu (OYAK) (''lit. Military Mutual Aid Institution''), is a Turkish charity and pension fund with around 363,000 members and owner of Renault (Oyak). The OYAK Holding Investment Subsidiary Group is one of the largest indust ...

(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 is not the intent. The United States has $19.1 trillion in retirement and pension assets ($9.1 trillion in private funds, $10 trillion in public funds) as of 31 December 2016. The largest 200 pension funds accounted for $4.540 trillion as of 30 September 2009.

Government

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pension Fund Pensions Pension funds az:Pensiya fondu he:קרן פנסיה

Classifications

Open vs. closed pension fund

Public vs. private pension funds

Largest pension funds

By country

Australia

Government

Industry (not-for-profit)

Private

Brazil

Canada

Government

Private

Chile

China

Greece

Government

Private

Hong Kong

India

Japan

Malaysia

Morocco

Nepal

Netherlands

Norway

Romania

Saudi Arabia

Serbia

Singapore

Switzerland

Turkey

Government

Private

United States

Government

See also

References