The overall balance sheet total of Belgian institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) increased last year by 7 per cent to 48.9 billion euros. This is the conclusion of the annual statistical overview prepared by the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).
The FSMA is responsible for the supervision of IORPs, also known as pension funds. Every year, it publishes a summary of statistics regarding IORPs. The fifteenth edition of that statistical overview is now available.
The most important elements of the overview are as follows:
- At the end of 2024, Belgium had 148 IORPs governed by Belgian law, compared to 150 pension funds in 2023.
- Meanwhile, the number of members in IORPs rose by five per cent to 2.66 million.
The balance sheet total of all IORPs at the end of last year was 48.9 billion euros, a 7 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
Belgian IORPs invested a little more than three-quarters of their assets in undertakings for collective investment (UCIs), mostly in share and bond funds. Taking into account the underlying assets of these UCIs, IORPs invested, directly and indirectly, 49 per cent in bonds and 42 per cent in shares. The return on all investments at the end of 2024 stood at 8.6 per cent.
At the end of 2024, the average coverage level was 123 per cent. It increased compared to 2023 and reaches almost the same level as just before the events in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis in 2022, mainly as a result of positive asset returns.
The coverage level indicates the volume of assets a pension fund has available to meet all its obligations. So, a coverage level of 123 per cent means that there is a buffer of 23 per cent compared to the conservative estimation of the liabilities.
In addition to the 2024 overview, the annual financial statements and some additional statistics at sectoral level are available on the FSMA’s website (available in French – Dutch only).