EUROPE - AP4, one of the Swedish buffer funds, returned 11% for the full year 2010 and assets increased by SEK17.1bn (€2bn) to SEK212.8bn. The performance beat the fund's benchmark by 0.8%.

The long-term performance target for the AP funds is a return of 4.5% per year, a target that has not been met as a result of the financial crises of 2000-02 and 2007-08.

The AP funds have returned an average of 2% over the last 10-year period.

AP1 returned 10.2% over the same period, with assets increasing by SEK16.5bn to SEK218.8bn at the end of last year.

The results for 2009 and 2010 have recouped the losses incurred during the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, Alecta the pension and insurance provider, returned 9.6% for 2010. On average, the provider has returned 5.4% on average during the last five years.

Alecta's collective surplus or buffer capital was 146%, an increase by 5% from the previous year.

Its solvency ratio also increased to 167% from 163% during the year. Alecta's defined contribution product Optimal Pension returned 12.6%.

Competitor Folksam Liv returned 8.7% for 2010 with an average 5.1% return over a five-year period, slightly behind Alecta on the year, as well as over the five-year period.

Folksam's solvency ratio increased by 10% to 159%, while its buffer capital was 116.3% at year end 2010.

KPA Pension, owned by Folksam, retuned 8.2%, and its solvency ratio, which had been low until 2008, was 186%.

Skandia Liv's total return for 2010 was in line with its competitors, returning 9.4%.

The main contributors to performance were Swedish equities, real estate and commodities.

The solvency ratio was at 174% at year-end and the buffer capital 108%.

SPP, owned by Norway's Storebrand, saw assets under management increase by 9% to SEK141bn, with new sales up 2%.

PP Pension, the pension fund for the media, returned 10.3% for 2010, while its buffer capital was up by 11% to 154% for the defined benefit pensions and 111% for the defined contribution pensions.

PP Pension manages SEK9.7bn.

Lastly, Øystein Olsen, governor of Norges Bank, said Norway's Government Pension Fund Global had grown from NOK400bn (€51.6b) on 2001 to more than NOK3.1trn.

As a percentage of GDP, it has grown in line with what was projected in 2001, when the fund was launched.

The fund's assets now constitute more than 120% of GDP.

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