The aggregate surplus of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the PPF 7800 index increased 1.9% in February to £381.4 billion ($457.5 billion).
The surplus more than doubled for the year ended Feb. 28, from £133.6 billion, according to a Tuesday update by the Pension Protection Fund, London. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for pension funds of insolvent U.K. companies.
The aggregate funding ratio was 137% as of Feb. 28, compared with 134.8% as of Jan. 31. The funding ratio was 108.4% as of Feb. 28, 2022.
Assets declined by 2.6% for the month and fell 18.4% for the year to £1.41 trillion. Liabilities fell 4.1% for the month and by 35% for the year, to £1.03 trillion.
Five-to-15-year index-linked gilt yields were up 16 basis points in February and increased by 314 basis points over the year.
The majority of the 5,131 pension funds covered by the index were in surplus as of Feb. 28, at 86.9% — flat from a month earlier. As of Feb. 28, 2022, when the index covered 5,215 pension funds, 59.3% were in surplus.
