Washington State Investment Board posts 8.5% fiscal-year return

Washington State Investment Board's $166.9 billion commingled trust fund of defined benefit plan assets returned a net 8.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30.

The return fell below the Olympia-based board's custom benchmark return of 12% for the period, according to a performance report on its website.

For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the commingled trust fund returned an annualized net 6.4% 9.9% and 8.9%, respectively, above their respective custom benchmark returns of 2.7%, 7.5% and 6.5%.

The WSIB's commingled trust fund had returned a net 5.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.

For the most recent fiscal year, the commingled trust fund’s performance fell short of the median return of 9.9% among the 73 public pension funds whose fiscal-year returns have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Oct. 1.

For the most recent fiscal year, the board's public equity asset class was the top performer with a net return of 19.6% (above its benchmark return of 18.7%); followed by tangible assets at 10.8% (7.5% benchmark); innovation portfolio, 10.3% (17.3%); private equity, 8.4% (25.8%); fixed income, 4.8% (3.5%); and real estate, -2.1% (-7.2%).

As of June 30, the commingled trust fund's actual allocation was 28.5% private equity, 27% public equity, 19.2% real estate, 15% fixed income, 7.7% tangible assets, 1.4% cash and 1.2% innovation portfolio.

Washington State Investment Board manages a total of $205.2 billion in retirement plans, state insurance funds, permanent funds and other state funds.