FINLAND – Investments at Finnish pension provider Varma returned 5.7% in the first three quarters of this year, bouncing back from the 4.2% loss suffered in the same period last year.

Matti Vuoria, president and chief executive, said: "The third quarter was a strong one for Varma, and the nine-month return on investments was positive in all asset classes."

Equities generated the strongest return at 10.8%, up from a 15.7% loss in the same period in 2011. 

Fixed income investments produced 3.5%, up slightly from 3%, while property ended the period with a 2.1% return, down from 4.6%.

Property returns were weighed down by the decline in demand for office and business premises, Varma said.

"We want to ensure Varma's operational ability and have therefore kept the risk level moderate and the securing of solvency as one of our key goals," said Vuoria.

The total value of assets under management rose to €34.5bn at the end of September from €31.2bn.

Meanwhile, Tapiola Pension reported a 6.8% return on investments for January to September this year, up from a 4.8% loss.

Performance had been particularly in strong in the third quarter, with returns almost doubling from 3.7% at the end of June.

Hanna Hiidenpalo, CIO, said: "In line with Tapiola Pension's strategy, the proportion of alternative investments has been further increased in order to diversify investment risks."

These investments now make up about 6% of the portfolio, she said, and they returned 0.8% in the nine-month period.

Equities returned almost 13% since the start of the year, with European equities standing out with a return of 21%.

Private equity generated more than 23%, it said.

Fixed income investments produced a 5% return, including corporate loans, which returned nearly 10% in the period.

Real estate returned 3.5%.

By the end of September, the total value of investments had risen to €9.78bn from €9.04bn.

In results from other Finnish pension providers, Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company reported an investment return of 8.6% between January and September, up from 5.9% at the half-year stage.

All investment classes produced positive returns, Etera said.

Director of investments Jari Puhakka said: "This was the result of, for example, the falling interest rate, the narrowing credit margins on corporate bonds and the strong development in the main equity markets."

Most of the portfolio's total return was generated by fixed income and equity investments, with quoted equities producing 15.2% and corporate bonds returning 12.8%.

The market value of investments was up at €5.7bn at the end of September from €5.6bn at the end of June.

Investments at pensions insurer Ilmarinen returned 5.3% in the nine months to the end of September, after a 5.2% loss in year-earlier period.

Timo Ritakallio, deputy chief executive and head of investments, said: "We are quite happy with the return on investments for the early part of the year, especially in terms of private equity and foreign equity investments.

"However, the return on Finnish equity investments was clearly weaker than that of other markets."

Overall, listed equities returned 5.8%, up from a 19% loss in the year-earlier period, and private equity returned 10.7%, down from 14.7%.

Fixed income returned 4.9%, up from a loss of 0.8%, and real estate produced 3.8%, after 4.2% in the same period 2011.

Ilmarinen's total investments climbed in value to €29.1bn by the end of September from €27.1bn.

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