Dear UNJSPF Participants, Retirees and Beneficiaries,
As we begin a new year, let us briefly look back at 2024 and provide you with an outlook for 2025.
Last year, we commemorated our 75 years of history, in the service of providing pension security for our participants, retirees and beneficiaries. We are in a position of financial strength and continue to offer effective services to clients, while our modernization efforts continue.
In 2024, we saw the most voluminous year on record of benefits processed and despite that, we were still able to process 93.2% of benchmarked benefits within 15 business days. This means that upon receipt of all requested documents from your employing organization, the Fund is able to process your pension efficiently in the vast majority of cases, despite its increasing volume of work.
All periodic benefits have continued to be issued on time, and the Fund has set up new payment channels to preserve transfer of benefits to countries affected by geopolitical challenges. The Fund today provides payments in 18 different currencies in more than 190 countries.
Meanwhile, the Fund has continued to modernize its operations by simplifying and digitalizing interactions with clients. In November 2024, we launched UNJSPF Connect, a modern customer relationship management system that is expected to further improve services to clients. We are particularly proud that one of our flagship projects, the Digital Certificate of Entitlement (DCE) app, has been awarded the Government Blockchain Association’s Social Impact Award, and helped 38,000 retirees and beneficiaries submit their proof of life digitally in 2024, more than 53% of the eligible population. This option for beneficiaries to provide their annual proof of life digitally yielded great efficiency gains for the Fund and has saved thousands of pieces of paper and mailing costs for our clients.
In addition to expanding our outreach through our public website, social media channels, educational videos, e-learning and extranet with member organizations, we strengthened our transparency efforts by organizing a UNJSPF global townhall meeting, 14 pension townhalls and through our key publications: the Annual Letter, Annual Report, The Fund in brief, The UNJSPF at 75, the IFRS Climate Report and our second Voting and Engagement reports.
As well as providing excellent service to our clients, we continue to ensure that the Fund maintains a strong financial position to be able to pay all future benefits. In 2024, the Pension Board received the results of the latest biennial actuarial valuation (as at 31 December 2023), which confirmed that contributions continue to be deemed sufficient to pay benefits into perpetuity. While high inflation has increased the cost to the Fund of paying benefits, investment returns on assets remain key to the Fund's long-term financial sustainability.
With regard to investment performance, the preliminary value of the Fund’s assets was US$ 95.4 billion as at 31 December 2024. This represents an annual increase of more than $7.1 billion from December 2023. Relative to the Fund’s long-term (15 years and longer) investment objective of 3.5% per annum, the preliminary long-term real rate of return outperformed, at 4.09% as at 31 December 2024. Additionally, the most recent comparison of the Fund's investment performance vis-à-vis other global pension funds, mandated by the UN General Assembly, showcased the Fund’s effectiveness and efficiency, with management costs 34% lower than its peers alongside higher risk-adjusted returns. UNJSPF also achieved compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) for its fourth consecutive year.
The Fund advanced its responsible investment efforts and participated in numerous events including Climate Week NYC. It signed a statement alongside other institutional investors urging decisive action by policymakers against the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and continued to be vocal about the urgent crisis of nature and biodiversity loss around the world. The Fund also hosted the 15th Annual CFO Forum in September.
In 2025, the Fund is looking ahead to how it can listen to you as a client through an enhanced client survey capability.
This year we are delighted to welcome the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as the 25th member of the Fund effective 1 January 2025.
Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in modernizing our underlining infrastructure through improving UNJSPF Connect and enhancing our financial systems. All these efforts are made possible thanks to the strong support of the Pension Board and the UN General Assembly, which has just adopted its 2024 resolution on pension matters, including the approval of our administrative budget for 2025.
Our governing bodies’ sustained support in providing us with guidance and adequate resources translate immediately into our outstanding results.
Along with the Fund’s 25 member organizations and the UNJSPF staff, we stand committed to serving you. We thank you for your trust and send you our best wishes for 2025.
Rosemarie McClean is the Chief Executive of Pension Administration and Pedro Guazo is the Representative of the Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the Fund.
