Assets under management at the Pension Protection Fund, London, increased 9.4% to £16.3 billion ($27.8 billion) in the year ended March 31, and the funding level also rose.
The U.K. fund, which takes on the payments for defined benefit plans of insolvent companies, had a 112.5% funding ratio as of March 31, compared with 109.6% a year previous.
The PPF said in its annual report that the increased funding level had, in turn, increased the likelihood of the fund being financially self-sufficient by 2030. The PPF funds itself through an annual levy.
The fund also recorded a £2.4 billion surplus, up 33%, or £600 million, for the year.
The fund’s total return for the year excluding its liability-driven investment hedging program was 3.4%. Including the LDI program, which is designed to offset the movement in liabilities as interest rates and inflation move, the return was -0.7%. The PPF wrote in its report that “the combination of interest rates and inflation rates during the year resulted in a reduction in liabilities.” Assets outperformed the liability benchmark by 2.9%.
