Pension funds suffer biggest losses since 2008 financial crisis

New data from the latest Moneyfacts’ UK Personal Pension Trends Treasury Report has revealed how a marked deterioration in pension fund performance during the final quarter of 2018 meant that the average pension fund suffered a fall of 7.3 per cent during Q4 2018, leaving pension funds down by 6.2 per cent for the calendar year.

In this more difficult investment environment, most pension funds struggled to generate positive returns during 2018, with only 9 per cent of funds in positive territory.
    
UK Smaller Companies (-13.9 per cent), Europe Including UK Equities (-13.6 per cent) and Europe Excluding UK Equities (-12.1 per cent) were the worst affected ABI Pension fund sectors, although a further four sectors – Commodity/Energy (-10.4 per cent), Global Emerging Markets (-11.5 per cent), Japan (-11.2 per cent) and UK All Companies (-11.9 per cent) also suffered double-digit losses. By contrast, UK Direct Property (4.4 per cent) was the only ABI Pension Sector to deliver returns of any note.
    
Until last year, pension freedoms had only been operating within an environment of positive pension fund returns, with the average pension fund enjoying particularly strong growth in 2016 (15.7 per cent) and 2017 (10.5 per cent).

Richard Eagling, head of pensions at Moneyfacts, said: “Last year’s market downturn will increase the focus on the investment decisions being made by pension savers and drawdown investors. The extent of the losses experienced by pension funds last year, combined with the return of greater volatility, raises the question as to whether pensions savers and drawdown investors will be sufficiently alarmed to adjust their investment strategies and reduce their exposure to stock markets. The other threat posed by falling pension fund returns is that it could undermine efforts to encourage greater personal pension contributions.”