Iceland’s Gigantic Pension Fund Is Creating a Headache at Home
Iceland is confronting the trouble that comes with having a pension system so successful in amassing savings for future retirees that it was recently rated the best in the world.
With assets now at about double the size of the north Atlantic island’s economy, the government is considering allowing investment managers to diversify by buying up more securities abroad, prompting the central bank to urge caution. The rules currently limit the share of overseas holdings in pension assets at 50%.
“The system has become so big,” Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson said in an interview, describing collective retirement savings of 6.4 trillion kronur ($49 billion). “It goes without saying that we cannot limit all investment opportunities to the domestic market.”
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