National Pension Service Reports Strong Q3 Performance

The National Pension Service (NPS) has announced an impressive 9.18% return on investment for the third quarter of this year, earning a total of 97 trillion won (approximately $69.3 billion). According to the NPS Investment Management's preliminary report on November 29, the fund's cumulative investment return through September reached 9.18%, with total operating profits amounting to 97.24 trillion won.

Since the inception of the pension scheme in 1988, cumulative returns have reached 675.2 trillion won, and the total fund reserves now stand at 1,146 trillion won. By asset class, preliminary returns were 21.35% for overseas equities, 6.97% for overseas bonds, 5.05% for alternative investments, 4.09% for domestic bonds, and just 0.46% for domestic equities.

Despite concerns about a global economic slowdown, factors such as anticipated U.S. interest rate cuts, a rally in overseas tech stocks, a rise in the won-dollar exchange rate, and higher bond prices contributed positively. While South Korea’s domestic stock market, KOSPI, declined by 2.34% year-to-date, global equities climbed 19.40% in dollar terms. The 2.34% increase in the won-dollar exchange rate further boosted returns on foreign assets.

The third-quarter-end return on alternative investment assets, such as real estate, private equity, and infrastructure, primarily reflected income from interest and dividends during the period and foreign exchange translation gains from the rise in the won-dollar exchange rate. Changes in the valuation of investment assets were not factored in. The fair value assessment of alternative investment assets is scheduled to be conducted at the end of the year.