Pension funds as institutional investors in Turkey and analysis of fund performance

With the development of financial markets, institutional investors were formed in order to make the savings contribute to the economic growth and to lead them to the productive investment. Private pension funds are one of the most preferred investment options for institutional investors. In Turkey, with the coming into effect of Personal Pension System in 2003, the pension funds got started and made progress in a short time. Performances that are showed in financial markets by the important private pension funds have substantial place for both account owners and everyone who included in this system. Within the scope of Personal Pension System, this study aimed to inform about private pension funds and give an opinion to concerning people by analyzing performances of private pension funds in Turkey since 2010. The study made on the 126 private pension fund was analyzed according to the private pension fund types determined by the SPK, fund firms and portfolio administrators.In this study, Single Criteria Models were used which consider the different risk factors and measure the election skills. Performances are measured according to daily returns of private pension funds in 2010. As a result of the application of performance measurement techniques, which consider both the proceed and the risk factor, different results were obtained according to the types of fund, fund firms and fund portfolio managers. Funds which show successful performances were seen, as well as funds which show high performances in some criteria but low in others. As a result of the evaluations, it was decided that not only the returns but also the different factors that affect the investor choice should be taken into consideration in order to measure the performance.Key Words: Personal Pension System, Pension Funds, Risk, Return, Performance Measurements