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Transparency and Market Insight
that Create a Competitive Edge

Since 2014, we have been producing independent analyses of the institutional investor landscape and highlight in our InstiPortal the individual structure, asset allocation, performance and development of over 700 institutional investors in the DACH region

News about our market analyses

September 2026 - The 60 largest institutional investors in the DACH region (excluding insurance companies)

Outside the insurance sector, GAC has identified more than 300 institutional investors from the sectors of pension funds, corporates, occupational pension schemes, municipal and church pension schemes, dioceses, foundations and SGB investors, as well as more than 100 savings banks and co-operative banks (Depot A), each with an investment volume of at least one billion euros. The list of the largest institutional investors in the DACH region summarises – as far as possible – pooled investment vehicles that have identical decision-making structures for capital investment. It comprises 32 institutions from Germany, 26 pension funds from Switzerland and two investors from Austria. The German investors comprise ten companies, nine "Versorgungswerke", four "Pensionskassen", five church-run or local authority institutions, two Depot A investors and two foundations.

August 2026 - Pensionskassen: € 217 Bn. with more than a third in real assets

News

The investment volume of the more than 100 "Pensionskassen" grew by just over 2 per cent to almost 217 billion euros in 2025. Around 55 billion euros of this came from the pension funds operated by insurance groups, with the remainder coming from sectoral and company pension funds. The share of direct bond investments in the total portfolio has risen for the fourth consecutive year to 42.5 per cent, albeit at a slower rate than in previous years. In absolute terms, fund investments have also increased by a further billion. The total bond allocation at the end of 2025 stands at just under 65 per cent, with equities and property accounting for 9 per cent and 14 per cent respectively, whilst the allocation to alternative investments has risen further to just under 12 per cent. The net return in 2025 was around 2.7 per cent, with figures ranging from -8.5 per cent to +5.3 per cent. With market values falling slightly, the "Pensionskassen" recorded a market value performance of around 1 per cent, with individual results ranging from -7.8 per cent to +8.6 per cent.

July 2026 - Life Insurance companies are growing slightly again and continue to invest in alternatives

News

Following a decline of almost 20 billion euros in the investment volume of traditional life insurance since 2022, it rose slightly again for the first time in 2025 to almost 1,025 billion euros. Unit-linked insurance has continued to grow by 10 per cent to a new high of 237 billion euros. During the period of low interest rates, there was a sustained trend away from direct bond investments. Their share of total investments fell from almost 60 per cent to below 40 per cent, and in 2021 the volume of investment funds exceeded that of direct bonds for the first time. In absolute terms, fund investments have increased by more than a quarter of a trillion euros since 2013. Against a backdrop of rising interest rates, this trend has weakened or reversed, and direct investment has regained importance. By the end of 2025, direct bond investments accounted for around 39 per cent and fund investments for just over 40 per cent of total investments. Whilst the overall bond (68 per cent) and property (7 per cent) allocations fell slightly in 2025, equity exposure remained at a low 4 per cent. Alternative investments, by contrast, were further expanded to now account for more than 12 per cent. The net return stood at around 2.3 per cent, in line with the previous year’s level. Against a backdrop of rising interest rates, the market value return was slightly negative (median -0.3 per cent), with results ranging from -6.9 per cent to +4.5 per cent. 

June 2026 - Health insurance companies are set to grow by a further 15 billion euros in 2025

News

The volume of investments held by health insurers rose by 4 per cent in 2025 to around 388 billion euros (book values). The total direct and indirect bond allocation fell slightly to around 76 per cent. Whilst the equity allocation remained relatively constant at around 5 per cent, the property allocation fell slightly to 7 per cent. Exposure to alternative investments was further expanded, reaching almost 11% by the end of 2025. Health insurers achieved a net return of around 2.5% and a market value return of around 1%. Over the 10-year period, these figures stood at 2.7% and 1.7% per annum respectively.

March 2026 - DAX/MDAX: €300 billion with 23% in equities and a 3.5% return in 2025

News

In 2025, the discount rate used to calculate pension liabilities rose significantly to 4.1% (previous year: 3.45%). As a result, the pension liabilities on the balance sheets of DAX/MDAX companies fell by almost 7% to around €361 billion. In 2020, pension liabilities peaked at well over half a trillion euros at the height of the low-interest-rate phase. The plan assets set aside to fund these liabilities also fell in 2025, albeit by only around 1% to approximately €304 billion. On a capital-weighted basis, the funding ratio rose significantly by almost 5 percentage points compared with the previous year to 84–85% (87–88% for the DAX alone). In terms of asset allocation, the bond allocation fell slightly to 48%, whilst the equity allocation rose by around two percentage points to almost 23% for the first time in four years. Property accounts for around 6% and alternatives 7% of the total allocation. The remainder is allocated to insurance solutions, derivatives and liquidity. The average return in 2025 was around 3.3% (previous year: around 5%), with results ranging from -1% to over +11%. This results in an average annualised return of around 3.7% for the 18-year period since 2008.

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     Depot A: Assets rise to new record high in 2025
     Versorgungswerke: €300 billion with over 40% in real estate/alternatives
     Pensionskassen: 212 Billion Euro, with one third in real assets
     Asset Allocation Life Insurance: Equities decline, property stagnates, alternatives grow
     Health insurers' capital volume grew by EUR 13 billion in 2024
     DAX/MDAX companies with record coverage ratio
     Versorgungswerke: More bonds and alternatives, less equities and real estate
     Savings Banks Depot A: Interest Income is back
     Company Pension Funds 2023: Performance 6%, decreasing equity allocation
     Health insurance companies: Investments increase by 4% to 360 billion euros
     Life Insurances 2023 - Performance of around six percent
     Run Off - Significant shift in allocation ratios
     Obligations rise faster than plan assets in 2023 as interest rates fall
     Versorgungswerke - 270 billion euros with more than 40% real estate/alternatives
     Pension funds are once again focusing more on direct bond investments
     Life Insurance Companies: A quarter of a trillion less
     KVU: Decreasing bond and equity quota
     Highly dispersed investment results 2022
     CH: More than 1,000 pension funds manage over one trillion CHF
     Corporates: Coverage ratio rises despite lower investment return than in 2008
     Volume of Depot A securities remains at 530 billion euros in 2022
     Pension funds for liberal professions with 4% net return and almost 40% illiquid assets
     Pension funds continue to grow strongly
     Pensionskassen - Investment volume grows by more than eight billion euros
     LVU 2021 with negative market value yield, AA slowly becomes more colorful
     380 billion euros with increasingly shares, real estate and alternatives
      Corporates - Coverage ratio increases significantly
     Depot A - Funds volume at record level
     Pension Funds for liberal Professions: 45% Bonds, 18% Equities, 35% Real Estate/Alternatives
     GAC with the largest investors in Private Banking Magazine
     LI in pandemic year with 5.6% return, less equities and more real estate / alternatives
     DAX/MDAX: 5% return on plan assets of 340 billion euros
     Savings banks and cooperative banks increase special funds volume by almost 12 billion euros
     Pension funds for liberal professions: less than half fixed-income, one-third illiquid assets
     GAC in dpn: The 100 largest investors in Germany
     Pensionskassen with higher ratios for equities, real estates and alternatives
     Savings banks with significantly increased real estate investments
     Life insurance companies with very good performance 2019
     GAC in dpn: DAX/MDAX - Pension obligations and assets at the all-time high
     With God’s blessing – Church investors manage investments of over 100 billion euros
     GAC in TiAM: Company Pension Funds and Pension Funds for Liberal Professions
     GAC on the largest Depot A investors in dpn
     GAC in dpn: The largest insurance companies in the DACH region
     GAC in dpn: Asset Allocation fo pensions funds in Switzerland
     GAC with update 2019 on asset allocation and performance of life insurance companies
     GAC in IPE yearbook 2018: Equities- and real estates-exposure of 250 institutional investors
     GAC with ranking of the largest institutional investors on
     GAC discusses investments by churches in dpn-online
     GAC appears in dpn-online discussing investments by social security funds
     GAC with an update to pension funds of liberal professions (dpn)
     GAC appears in IPE addressing the structure and performance of proprietary securities account (Depot A)
     GAC in dpn: The 30 largest foundations in Germany
     GAC discusses institutional investors in sweden
     GAC discusses transition of the asset allocation (dpn)
     GAC appears in the IPE yerabook addressing asset allocation and performance of corporates
     GAC in Absolut Report: Asset Allocation and Performance of Company Pension Funds
     GAC in Absolut Report: Asset Allocation and Performance of Pension Funds of Liberal Professions
Transparency and Market Insight

Transparency and Market Insight

We firmly believe that transparency and detailed market insight are the foundation for above-average results. That is why we founded GAC in 2014 with a clear objective: to provide decision-makers and committees of asset managers, banks and investors as well as their advisors with an unobstructed and detailed view of the institutional investor landscape.

To this end, we continuously analyse the structure, asset allocation, performance and development of institutional investors. The GAC online tool “InstiPortal” covers over 700 institutional investors (pension funds, insurance companies, corporates, Depot A, church investors, SGB investors, foundations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and is currently used by more than 100 banks, asset managers and investors.

GAC Technical Articles

December 2025 Institutional investment in the second year after the interest rate turnaround (dpn)
December 2024 Institutional investment more stable than perceived (dpn)
October 2023 Institutional investment – half a trillion less
April 2022 Depot A - Capital investments in transition (dpn)
April 2022 Corporates - What will 2022 be like? (dpn)

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Manfred Mönch

Expertise and Passion

Founder and Managing Director Manfred Mönch (CFA) held senior leadership positions at renowned private banks and asset managers and, with over 20 years of expertise in financial and capital markets, knows the challenges facing institutional investors first-hand. With precision and passion, he has been driving the vision of GAC forward since 2014.

Manfred Mönch studied Business Administration at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and is a member of the CFA Society Germany e.V.