Banks, Elections, Financial Services, Investments, Pensioners

The total volume previously fell below 13% in the first quarter of 2019. The drop follows an all-time high level achieved in the first quarter, according to the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

The volume of pension fund assets invested in Estonia totaled 634.2 mln euros and absolute growth compared with the previous quarter was 1.8 mln euros. The total value of pension funds as at the end of the second quarter stood at 4.9 bn euros, exceeding that in the first quarter by 466 mln euros.

The largest share of pension fund assets, 22.79%, was invested in Estonia by LHV. LHV's investments in Estonia declined by 2.78 percentage points compared with the first quarter. 

The reduction in investments was due to changes in LHV pension fund L, from which investments made in Estonia declined by 13.5 mln euros. A smaller decline, by 1.1 mln euros, occurred in LHV's XL pension fund.

Second in terms of investments in Estonia was Swedbank with 11.44% of its total investments. The volume of assets declined by 0.85 percentage points, mainly as a result of changes in the volume of Swedbank's K10 and K30 funds totaling 1.6 mln euros.

SEB invested in Estonia 6.89% of its total volume of investments -- 0.05 percentage points less than in the first quarter, and Luminor 4.21%, or 0.12 percentage points less compared with the first quarter.

Of the 634 mln euros invested in Estonia, investments by LHV funds total 325 mln euros, or 51%, followed by Swedbank with 227 mln euros, or 36%, SEB with 63 mln euros, or 10 %, and Luminor with 17 mln euros, or 3%. No investments in Estonia were made by Tuleva World Stocks pension fund.  

The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been monitoring and analyzing investments from assets of pension funds in the Estonian economy from the start of 2016. At the time, pension funds only invested 5.48%, or 147 mln euros, of their assets in Estonia.

The total volume of investments in Estonia was smallest in the first quarter of 2017, only accounting for 5.01% of total investments. Growth figures were largest at over 2 percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2017. The positive trend began after legislative amendments whereby the state relaxed investment restrictions imposed on pension funds.