芬兰最大的养老基金正在根据新的投资规则将数十亿欧元转移至股票市场，这使得专业策略以及外部资产管理人在私募市场中的作用备受关注。
Finland’s largest pension funds are shifting billions of euros into equities under new investment rules, putting a spotlight on specialist strategies and the role of external asset managers in private markets.
芬兰三大私营部门养老保险公司——Varma、Ilmarinen和Elo——共管理着约1800亿欧元（约合2000亿美元）的芬兰人退休基金。第三季度，Elo将其股票权重提高了8.3个百分点，Varma提高了5.2个百分点，Ilmarinen提高了3个百分点。
The three biggest private-sector pension insurers — Varma, Ilmarinen and Elo — manage a total of about €180 billion ($200 billion) of Finns’ retirement funds. In the third quarter, Elo raised its equity weighting by 8.3 percentage points, Varma by 5.2 points and Ilmarinen by 3 points.
一项于7月1日生效的改革允许基金承担更多风险以改善回报，并提高股票权重，此前截至6月底，整个行业的股票权重约为62%。在上市股票方面，这些基金大多自行进行投资管理。
A reform that took effect on July 1 allows funds to take more risk to improve their returns, and to raise equity weights from about 62% across the industry at the end of June. When it comes to listed stocks, the funds handle most investing themselves.
管理着724亿欧元资产的Varma公司首席投资官马库斯·阿霍（Markus Aho）在接受采访时表示，他认为外部管理人在非上市投资（包括私募股权和风险投资）方面最具潜力。他说，其他关键领域还包括专业市场和策略，在这些领域，外部管理人可以提供养老基金内部所不具备的专业知识和准入渠道。
Varma, which manages €72.4 billion, sees the most potential for external managers in unlisted investments, including private equity and venture capital, Chief Investment Officer Markus Aho said in an interview. Other key areas include specialist markets and strategies where such managers can provide expertise and access that the pension fund doesn’t have in-house, he said.
“例如，我们曾聘请过一位澳大利亚的积极型管理人，并投资了一只专注于北欧小盘股的基金，”阿霍说。“这些往往是特定的主题或市场，也是整个投资组合中较小的组成部分。”管理着710亿欧元投资组合的Ilmarinen公司自改革生效以来尚未向外部管理人分配新资本，但表示随着改革的推进，这种情况可能会发生变化。
“For example, we’ve used an active manager in Australia and a fund focused on Nordic small-cap companies,” Aho said. “These tend to be specific themes or markets and smaller components of the overall portfolio.”Ilmarinen, with a portfolio of €71 billion, hasn’t allocated new capital to external managers since the reform entered into force, but said that may change as the overhaul progresses.
“如果我们确定了能够提供扣除费用后足够高回报、具有多元化优势或我们内部缺乏的专业知识的管理人或策略，”Ilmarinen首席投资官安妮卡·埃克曼（Annika Ekman）在回复提问的电子邮件中表示，“我们可能会向他们分配新资本。”
“If we identify managers or strategies” offering sufficiently high returns after fees, diversification benefits or specialist expertise Ilmarinen lacks internally, “we may allocate new capital to them,” Chief Investment Officer Annika Ekman said in an emailed response to questions.
Elo表示，其约90%的上市股票投资由内部管理，随着股票敞口的增加，该公司并未增加对外部管理人的使用。
Elo said it manages about 90% of its listed-equity investments in-house and hasn’t increased its use of external managers as its equity exposure has grown.
据行业组织TELA称，芬兰强制性的收入相关养老金体系采用部分积累制，截至6月底资产规模为3000亿欧元。该体系结合了现收现付模式，投资回报用于支持向当前养老金领取者支付款项。
Finland’s mandatory earnings-related pension system is partly funded, with €300 billion of assets at the end of June, according to industry group TELA. That is combined with a pay-as-you-go model where investment returns bolster payments to current pensioners.
这项养老金投资改革正在一年内分阶段实施，允许私营部门基金逐步承担更多的投资风险。这些变化最终将股票投资上限从约65%提高到约85%左右。额外股票投资的一个主要关注领域是美国。
The pension investment reform is being phased in over a year, allowing private-sector funds to gradually take more investment risk. The changes ultimately raise the ceiling for equity investments to about 85% from roughly 65%. A major focus area on the additional equity investments has been the US.
Elo在本季度将其上市股票敞口增加了28亿欧元，其中约一半的额外股票投资配置在该国，且很大一部分集中在科技领域。
Elo, which increased its listed-equity exposure by €2.8 billion during the quarter, allocated about half of its additional equity investments in the country, with a significant share in technology.
“我们认为人工智能是一个投资者需要长期投资的主题，”首席投资官乔娜·里哈宁（Jonna Ryhanen）在接受采访时说。“当技术发展如此迅速时，很难确定谁是赢家，这就是为什么多元化很重要的原因。”与此同时，Ilmarinen将其上市股票中北美地区的份额从2025年底的36%提高到了41%，而Varma的上市股票投资组合中约有一半投资于该地区。阿霍表示，Varma也在寻找能够从人工智能热潮的连锁反应中受益的公司，包括能源需求增长带来的机会。
“We believe artificial intelligence is a theme that investors need to invest in over the long term,” Chief Investment Officer Jonna Ryhanen said in an interview. “It’s difficult to identify the winners when technologies are developing this quickly, which is why diversification is important.”Ilmarinen meanwhile raised the share of North America for its listed equities to 41% from 36% at the end of 2025, while about half of Varma’s portfolio of listed stocks is invested in there. Aho said Varma is also looking for companies that could benefit from the knock-on effects of the AI boom, including rising energy demand.
Elo的投资在前九个月获得了8%的收益，Varma为6.9%，Ilmarinen为6.2%——相比之下，去年同期每家基金的回报率均低于5%。
Elo’s investments have gained 8% in the first nine months, Varma’s 6.9% and Ilmarinen’s 6.2% — compared with returns of less than 5% for each of the funds in the same period last year.
这些基金采用了不同的方式来为更多的股票风险腾出空间。今年早些时候，Varma出售了其住宅投资组合，并以其他房地产投资为抵押进行了借贷，而Elo则避免了房产出售，计划转而利用房地产杠杆。Ilmarinen迄今为止使用了衍生品，使其能够在增加股票敞口的同时，保持投资组合其他部分的多元化。
The funds have used different ways to make room for more equity risk. Earlier this year, Varma sold its residential portfolio and borrowed against other real estate investments, while Elo has avoided property sales and plans to use real estate leverage instead. Ilmarinen has so far used derivatives, allowing it to increase equity exposure while retaining diversification elsewhere in its portfolio.
在经历了数年的强劲股票回报后，这种向更高风险的转变引发了人们对时机的质疑。
The shift toward greater risk comes after several years of strong equity returns, raising questions about the timing.
“感觉总是在市场高点增加风险，这次可能也是如此，”阿霍在Varma的业绩发布会上说。“但对于像这样着眼于未来几十年的改革来说，精确的市场时机把握几乎是不可能的。”
“It always feels like you’re adding risk at the market peak, and that may be the case this time too,” Aho said at Varma’s results presentation. “But with reforms like this, which are designed with decades in mind, precise market timing is pretty much impossible.”