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UK Funds Post Negative Results
According to the survey, which comprised 1,600 pension funds with combined assets of £352 billion, the median return for pension fund assets was -9.7% in 2001.
A report from IPE Newsline notes that the weighted average of pension fund returns came in slightly higher at -8.9%.
Despite the second consecutive negative result, real returns over a five-year time horizon were 3.2% per year relative to earnings, the report shows.
Despite the poor returns, 59% of managers managed to beat their own benchmarks by an average of 0.3% last year, and in the three years up to the close of 2001, two thirds beat theirs by 0.4% on average.
But pension funds are becoming stricter on their
managers. The survey revealed that almost 25% of pension
funds either changed investment manager or opened or closed
a specific mandate, compared to only 10% of funds in 1990.