Investments

Mutual funds and pension funds markets

Mutual funds market

As at the end of 2021, assets under management of domestic mutual funds were nearly PLN 301.5 billion, compared to 280.0 billion at the end of 2020, representing an increase by 7.5%.

Mutual fund management companies - % of assets as at 31 December 2021 (in %)

Source: IZFiA

Despite numerous challenges, not only of a regulatory nature, 2021 brought a growing popularity of funds characterized by a higher appetite for market risk, chiefly equity funds. Their assets swelled from PLN 28 billion to almost PLN 40 billion. According to Analizy Online, it was the worst year in history for Polish long-term treasury funds.

The sales performance was affected by the inflow of funds from January to September 2021 (over PLN 19 billion). Then, starting in October, clients kept withdrawing funds on a mass scale (over PLN 8.3 billion in total). The negative balance in the last quarter of 2021 was mainly determined by outflows from debt funds as a consequence of increases in bond yields (and thus a drop in prices) throughout 2021. As a result, the seemingly “safe” bond funds generated losses to investors across the whole year at a level of even more than 10%.

Employee Capital Schemes

The net asset value of the target date funds operated under the Employee Capital Schemes totaled over PLN 7.6 billion as at yearend 2021. Net asset value of the target date funds in the ECS system operated only by mutual fund management companies (TFI), without universal pension fund management companies (PTE) and insurance undertakings (ZU), at yearend 2021 stood at PLN 6.5 billion.

ECS - % of assets by TFI as at 31 December 2021 (in %)

Source: KNF, net asset value of FZD according to management institutions, data for TFI only, without PTE and TU

In 2021, contracts for the management and maintenance of Employee Capital Schemes were continued, enabling the accumulation of private savings independent from the general pension system.

In 2021, all employers were required to create an Employee Capital Scheme.

Pension funds market

As at the end of 2021, the net asset value of open-end pension funds was nearly PLN 188 billion, up 27% relative to the end of 2020. This increase in assets was largely due to the quotation rebounds following the 2020 stock exchange slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the most part of 2021, high volatility of prices on stock markets was observed.

Open-end Pension Funds – percentage of net asset value as at 31 December 2021 (in %)

Source: KNF, monthly data on the OFE market, data for December 2021

Voluntary Pension Funds

Despite the volatility on the equity market in 2021, the net asset value of voluntary pension funds increased to just over PLN 700 million as at the end of 2021. The active reallocation of portfolios into equity assets was allowed by the much smaller asset values of these funds compared to open-end pension funds.

Also, the value of DFE PZU’s assets is strongly affected by current contributions, which in 2021 were higher than the year before.

Activity and product offering

TFI PZU

Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU (TFI PZU) operates on the mutual fund market in the PZU Group. TFI PZU offers products and services for retail and institutional clients. It also operates investment and saving programs under the third pillar of the social security system:

• Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA);
• Employee Savings Plans (ESP);
• Employee Pension Schemes (EPS);
• Employee Capital Schemes (ECS);
• Group Pension Plans (GPP), within which Individual Retirement Security Accounts (IRSA) are available.

As at the end of 2021, TFI PZU had 55 funds and sub-funds in its portfolio, including 9 ECS sub-funds.

In 2021 the offer of specialized open-end mutual funds inPZU SFIO was strongly developed. These funds are available on the online platform inPZU.pl. Clients were offered new passive strategies and actively managed “lifecycle” funds with investment policy changing over time, adapted to savings for pension. In 2021, 7 new inPZU SFIO subfunds were added to the offering. Moreover, on 10 January 2022, a new method of verifying the client’s identity was implemented on the inPZU website in the form of video verification. TFI PZU also offers intensively developed managed account services.

As at the end of 2021, TFI PZU managed a portfolio of net assets worth PLN 24.2 billion, representing a 3.1% increase from the end of 2020 and more than an 8% share in the mutual fund market. Accordingly, TFI PZU reached the status of one of the three largest mutual fund management companies in Poland (it was ranked third according to reports published by the Chamber of Fund and Asset Management (IZFiA), after Ipopema TFI and PKO TFI).

TFI PZU’s net assets (in PLN billion)

Source: IZFiA

The largest increase in TFI PZU’s assets was recorded in the following subfunds: PZU Sejf+ (up PLN 307.1 million); PZU Obligacji Krótkoterminowych (up PLN 222.4 million); PZU Akcji KRAKOWIAK (up PLN 197.11 million); PZU Globalny Obligacji Korporacyjnych (up PLN 67.2 million); inPZU Akcje Rynków Rozwiniętych (up PLN 33.9 million). In percentage terms, the highest rates of growth were posted by the following subfunds: PZU Globalny Obligacji Korporacyjnych (up 312.8%); PZU Akcji Polskich (up 145.9%); inPZU Puls Życia 2050 (up 138.3%); PZU Akcji Rynków Rozwiniętych (up 91.4%); PZU Sejf+ (up 89.0%).

Funds whose net assets recorded the greatest decrease as at the end of 2021 were: PZU Stabilnego Wzrostu Mazurek (down PLN 383.0 million), PZU Papierów Dłużnych POLONEZ (down PLN 279.4 million), PZU Dłużny Aktywny (down PLN 72.3 million), PZU Dłużny Rynków Wschodzących (down PLN 63.1 million) and inPZU Inwestycji Ostrożnych (down PLN 58.9 million), while the highest percentage decreases were recorded by: PZU FIO Ochrony Majątku (down 49.8%), PZU Dłużny Aktywny (down 42.2%) and PZU Dłużny Rynków Wschodzących (down 24.5%).

Changes in the asset value of individual funds were driven predominantly by:

• development of the inPZU service and offering and the support actions;
• active sales of funds as part of Employee Capital Schemes;
• active sales of funds as part of Employee Pension Plans;
• client interest in a product with insurance against the risk of loss (Sejf+ with Capital Protection);
• acquisition of assets from the efforts in unit distribution by external distributors;
• interest rate hikes by central banks decreasing in relative terms the profits generated by some funds;
• high inflation rate;
• the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in increased volatility of fund valuations.

TFI PZU is also one of the leaders of the Employee Capital Schemes market. This result is attributable to, among others, the broad support that TFI PZU offers to employers in deployment and service of ECS. They may use a free online service for remote conclusion of ECS management and operation agreements and daily service of ECSs.

In May 2021, the last stage of systemic accession to the Employee Capital Schemes ended. The Employee Capital Scheme offering at TFI PZU was very popular among employers from the public finance sector, which translated into the execution of 21,867 contracts in this segment.

In total, as at the end of 2021, TFI PZU had almost 100,000 Employee Capital Scheme management contracts in place.

In total, about 600,000 people joined the Employee Capital Schemes offered by TFI PZU.

PTE PZU

PTE PZU manages the following entities:

• OFE PZU “Złota Jesień” open-end pension fund;
• DFE PZU voluntary pension fund.

OFE PZU “Złota Jesień” is one of the largest participants in the pension funds market in Poland.

At the end of 2021, OFE PZU was the third largest pension fund, both in terms of the number of members, as well as in terms of net asset value:

• the fund had 2,279,516 members, or 15.0% of all participants in open-end pension funds;
• net assets stood at nearly PLN 26 billion, thereby representing 13.7% of the total asset value of the open-end pension funds operating in Poland.

Net assets of OFE PZU “Złota Jesień” (PLN billion)

Source: KNF

As at the end of 2021, DFE PZU had 39.3 thousand IKZE accounts with assets worth PLN 492.5 million. It kept the leading position in the voluntary pension fund segment. The value of its assets increased by PLN 149,4 million (+43.6% y/y). The year 2021 was the best year in the history of the fund in terms of inflows - they amounted to PLN 123 million.

Distribution and customer service

TFI PZU

TFI PZU acquires assets for management within the framework of the following four business models:

• The first one of these, which is still the most important one, is based on obtaining funds through strengthening the company’s market position in the third pillar segment of the pension system, where the company has a nearly 40% share among all Polish employers. At yearend 2021, TFI PZU accumulated net assets in the amount of PLN 6.3 billion in Employee Pension Schemes. This model has been in place for 17 years, making the company one of the market leaders for Employee Capital Schemes. The amount of assets accumulated in ECS funds managed by TFI PZU stood at PLN 1,362.81 million, which accounted for nearly 20.9% of the market as at end of 2021. By 31 December 2021, ECS management contracts were signed with TFI PZU by nearly 99 thousand employers.
• The second model involves cooperation with external entities, such as banks, brokerage houses, insurers and independent financial advisors (IFAs) that distribute TFI PZU funds to retail and institutional clients. The external distribution model was launched in 2011 and is rapidly expanding in scope by acquiring new partners in traditional and remote channels. Currently, TFI cooperates with 21 institutions in this channel.
• The third model is based on the use of own and partner networks related to PZU – a network of PZU insurance branches, PZU Group member banks (Bank Pekao and Alior Bank) and TFI’s own sales network.
• The fourth and youngest distribution model is the online platform launched in 2018 along with the launch of the first umbrella of passive funds in Poland, which is currently comprised of 16 asset classes.

inPZU

The online platform, inPZU.pl, launched in 2018, enables clients to independently invest in the first fully proprietary passive funds in Poland. The platform is available 24/7, both in the desktop version and on any mobile device, and since 2020 also an English language version has been available. On the inPZU website, users may compare funds, define their investment objectives and personalize them. inPZU also enables users to search for funds and ready-made model portfolios as well as pay for their orders online. The platform is available to both individual and institutional clients. This is an attractive tool both for advanced investors and persons who are just starting to invest their savings.

As part of the provision of a comprehensive and developing investment offering, the following were launched:

• in 2018, the first 6 index funds for the main asset classes;
• in 2019, funds for another two global classes;
• in 2020, an index and a fund for CEE countries were created in collaboration with the Warsaw Stock Exchange;
• in 2020, 5 life-cycle funds were added for individual retirement account products and individual pension security account products;
• in 2021, another 7 global funds were created, also of a sectoral nature:
• inPZU Akcje Europejskie aims to mirror the MSCI Europe Net Total Return Local Index,
• inPZU Akcje Sektora Zielonej Energii aims to mirror the MSCI Global Alternative Energy Net Return Index,
• inPZU Akcje Rynku Złota aims to mirror the MSCI ACWI Select Gold Miners IMI Net Total Return Index,
• inPZU Akcje Sektora Nieruchomości aims to mirror the MSCI World Real Estate Net Total Return USD Index,
• inPZU Akcje Sektora Informatycznego aims to mirror the MSCI World Information Technology Net Total Return USD Index,
• inPZU Akcje Rynku Surowców aims to mirror the MSCI World Commodity Producers Net Total Return USD Index,
• inPZU Obligacje Inflacyjne aims to mirror the Bloomberg Barclays World Govt Inflation-Linked All Maturities Total Return Index.

As at yearend 2021, the inPZU.pl website had nearly 75,000 active users, including participants of Employee Capital Schemes.

PTE PZU

Payments to OFE PZU originate from pension insurance contributions transferred by the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) in accordance with the decision made by the insured, under the second pillar of the pension system.

Client acquisition for individual pension security accounts by DFE PZU is carried out through five distribution channels:

• PZU Życie;
• Bank Pekao;
• PZU CO;
• own sales network of PTE PZU;
• online using the contract creation wizard. With this solution, clients may easily open their individual pension security accounts at ikze.pzu.pl, without the need to send any paperwork or certificates.

In 2021, acquisition activities were carried out during the ongoing pandemic and in conditions of restricted access to stationary outlets. Despite this, the achieved results demonstrated that the greatest sales potential comes from direct contact with the client, mainly during the handling of his or her matters in PZU Group outlets and Bank Pekao branches.

Throughout the year, educational activities were carried out in combination with the communication campaign on contribution limits, including a new higher limit of 1.8 times the average monthly salary forecast in the national economy for the respective year for people running non-agricultural businesses. The new higher limit provides an opportunity for savers to get an even greater tax relief for their contributions made to individual pension security accounts.