Pensioners have enjoyed the highest returns from investments in four years helped by the big gains on the shares of Safaricom and large banks, which make up the bulk of the pension industry equities investments.

Pension funds surveyed by fund administrator Zamara and Actuarial Services East Africa (Actserv) show a return of 15.1 percent on investments for the one year to September 2021, the highest since they reported a 15.5 percent return in 2017.

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Double-digit gains in the period on the stocks of Safaricom (41.8 percent), Equity Group (38.3 percent), KCB (19.6 percent) and Cooperative Bank (12.7 percent) fuelled the gains, with the funds’ overall equity portfolio gaining 31 percent.

The four firms alongside EABL make up the five largest counters at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), together accounting for 81 percent of the market’s total market capitalisation of Sh2.64 trillion.

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The market-cap-weighted NSE All-Share index gained 27.5 percent in the period.

“The equity performance was mainly driven by gains attributable to positive investor sentiment on banking and telecommunications stocks.

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“Performance in 2021 was (also) positively impacted by economic recovery due to increased Covid-19 vaccination drives and loosening of stringent measures,” said Zamara.

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