Spanish pension funds have continued to increase their exposure to equities, despite disappointing market performance. According to data from Mercer Investment Consulting, whereas in December 1999 around 32% of total pension assets were invested in stocks, by the end of last year equities represented 36.3% of pension fund investments. Only 11.3% of total assets were invested in foreign equities and 27.7% in countries in the Euro-zone including Spain.
Exposure to fixed income investments has remained unchanged during the past couple of years, accounting for around 43% of total assets at the end of 2001. Most of the fixed income portfolio is invested in euro bonds, with only around 1.2% of total pension fund assets going to non-euro fixed income vehicles.
One of the most significant changes in asset allocation has been the reduction in exposure to cash and other money market-related investments. At the end of 1999 these attracted 26.5% of total assets, and now represent 19.2%. Exposure to real estate is still low, but has grown from 0.8% at the end of 1999 to 1.9% in December last year.