The Broadstone Sirius Index has shown that pension scheme funding suffered setbacks in the face of considerable economic and market volatility following the ongoing US-Israeli war in Iran.
The funding level of the ‘matching focused’ scheme decreased by 1.7 percentage points from 90.3 per cent at the end of February to 88.6 per cent at the end of March as violence across the Middle East led to shipping crises and market crashes.
The funding level of the ‘growth focused’ scheme fell back slightly more, by 1.8 percentage points, but from a higher starting point given positive growth returns over January and February.
Chris Rice, head of trustee services at Broadstone, says: “Most schemes shouldn’t be experiencing a significant change in funding in the first quarter of 2026, with the deterioration in March generally reversing January and February’s gains. The instability will no doubt cause concerns for trustees and sponsors however and trustees should be regularly monitoring their liquidity, hedging levels and LDI resilience.”
Equities markets have shown significant volatility since the assassination of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February, but have recently rebounded following a tentative ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Broadstone Sirius Index is a monthly tracker launched in that monitors the funding performance of DB pension schemes in the UK.
