Contributions paid to complementary forms of pensions in Italy increased robustly by 8% in the first half of this year, according to the latest figures published by pensions regulator COVIP.

Contributions paid by members to industry-wide pension funds (Fondi Negoziali), open pension funds and private pension plans (PIP) totalled €7.1bn in H1 of 2024, figures show.

Open pension funds recorded the biggest increase of 13.4% in terms of contributions received, the regulator added in its report. The flow of contributions towards complementary forms of pensions has grown steadily in Italy after a marked slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, complementary pension schemes collected €19.2bn in contributions, a 5.5% increase compared with €18.2 in 2022. The increase was higher than the average nominal rate of the last five years, equal to €3.4% on an annual basis, the regulator said.

Increasing contributions have helped boost assets under management of complementary pension schemes to €233bn at the end of June, up by 3.9% from €224.4bn at the end of 2023, COVIP said.

Net assets went up by 4.5% to €70.9bn in industry-wide schemes, by 6.6% to €34.8bn in open pension funds, and by 4.5% to €52.2bn in PIPs, the regulator’s H1 report added.

Assets grew in the first half of 2024 also thanks to positive returns of schemes with a higher exposure to equities. Equity sub-funds of industry-wide schemes returned on average 6.4% in H1, 7.3% in open pension funds, and 9.7% in PIPs, COVIP said.

The ‘Bilanciato’ sub-funds, holding equity and debt securities, returned on average 3.1% in industry-wide pension funds in the first half of 2024, 3.5% in open pension funds, and 4.5% in PIPs, while returns of bonds sub-funds were lower on average, in some cases close to zero, it added.

The number of members signing up for complementary pensions at the end of June 2024 grew by 2.3% to 10.9 million, including those members of multiple pension plans.

The number of members grew by 3.% to 141,400 in industry-wide schemes for a total of 4.15 million, by 62,100 in open pension funds to a total of 2.01 million, and by 0.9% in PIPs for a total of 3.81 million members, according to the report.

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Luigi is IPE's Berlin-based DACH correspondent. His coverage includes regulation and the latest pensions and investments trends, and, being a native Italian, he also covers Italy’s pensions market. He has reported from Italy and Germany on international politics and business for European and US publications including USA Today, Bloomberg BNA and for the investigative magazine L’Espresso. He was previously Germany correspondent for Mergermarket covering M&A.View full Profile

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