The private pensions funds active in Romania have invested the contributors' money in shares of companies like BMW, Daimler, Louis Vuitton and in corporate bonds issued by Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Bank of Ireland, according to a media report by Ziarul Financiar. The funds, which are obliged to release the situation of their assets and their investments as of this year, have 4 million contributors, who direct 3 percent of their monthly gross income to the mandatory pensions funds.

These funds placed almost EUR 32 million in shares of foreign companies, some EUR 75 million in corporate bonds and around EUR 74 million in the shares of companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

ING, the biggest private pensions fund in Romania, has invested around EUR 24 million on foreign stock markets. The fund had a yield of 16 percent last year, with its shares portfolio reaching a yield of 22 percent. Check out a detailed list of the private pensions' funds published by Ziarul Financiar here.

The assets of private pension funds in Romania could top EUR 1.6 billion this year, 60 percent more than in 2010, according to the country’s private pensions regulator CSSPP.

editor@romania-insider.com