According to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority’s report on the condition of Poland’s pension market at the end of 2025, last year was the strongest in the history of the Polish pension system in terms of growth in accumulated savings. Participants in the second and third pillars held a combined PLN 425.6 billion, PLN 118.2 billion more than a year earlier. A substantial share of the increase was driven by the stock market rally: open pension funds generated an average return of 42%, the highest since the second pillar was established. At the same time, pension fund management companies earned less than a year earlier, while a growing number of Employee Capital Plan participants withdrew their accumulated funds.
Record growth in retirement savings
Na koniec 2025 r. w ramach wszystkich form oszczędzania emerytalnego – OFE, PPE, IKE, IKZE i PPK – funkcjonowało 21.5 million rachunków, o 0,6 mln więcej niż rok wcześniej. Wartość zgromadzonych na nich aktywów wzrosła do PLN 425.6bn, czyli o 38,4% w skali roku. To zdecydowanie najwyższy przyrost od lat: rok wcześniej aktywa zwiększyły się o 19,8bn zł, a w 2025 r. – o 118,2bn zł. Największy wkład w ten wzrost miały otwarte fundusze emerytalne, których aktywa zwiększyły się o 80,5bn zł, ale rekordową dynamiką wyróżniły się też dobrowolne produkty III filaru – IKZE (+50,1%), PPK (+49,0%) i IKE (+37,2%).
OFEs: the best year ever, but less money remains in the funds
At the end of 2025, open pension funds managed net assets worth PLN 293.5 billion, approaching the level recorded before the 2014 reform. The Warsaw Stock Exchange had an exceptionally strong year: the WIG gained 47.3% and the WIG20 rose by 45.3%. Given the funds’ dominant exposure to Polish equities, this translated into an average OFE return of nearly 42%, compared with 5% a year earlier. It was the strongest result in the entire history of the second pillar. Over the past five years, OFEs generated a cumulative return of 125%, 81 percentage points above cumulative inflation over the same period.
The favourable market environment does not alter the long-term trend, however. The so-called safety slider, which gradually transfers OFE assets to subaccounts at the Social Insurance Institution during the 10 years before retirement age, removed as much as PLN 11.9 billion from the funds in 2025, PLN 2.2 billion more than a year earlier. By comparison, new contributions transferred from ZUS to OFEs amounted to only PLN 4.8 billion. The negative balance was offset by dividend income from companies held in OFE portfolios, but the PFSA explicitly warns that the slider will place an increasing burden on the value of OFE-managed assets in the coming years as larger age cohorts enter the process.
IKEs and IKZEs: Poles are increasingly willing to save independently
The voluntary individual savings segment expanded the fastest. The number of IKE accounts rose by 23.3% to 1.19 million, while the number of IKZE accounts increased by 29.8% to 770,000. Assets held in these products grew by 37.2% to PLN 31.3 billion and by 50.1% to PLN 18.2 billion, respectively. In 2025, 313,100 new IKE accounts and 213,600 new IKZE accounts were opened. This was significantly more than a year earlier and together represented almost 54% of all new pension accounts opened in 2025. The PFSA interprets this growth as a sign of increasing financial awareness among Poles and a growing need to secure their retirement independently of the universal system.
PPKs: assets are growing, but so are withdrawals
Employee Capital Plans ended 2025, their fourth full year of operation after implementation, with 4.9 million participants and assets worth PLN 45.1 billion, almost 50% more than a year earlier. A concerning signal is the continuing tendency to withdraw funds. The value of PPK withdrawals increased by 41% in 2025 to PLN 2.74 billion, following growth of 25% a year earlier and as much as 174% in 2023. Participants may withdraw money repeatedly without formally leaving the programme, but they lose the state bonus and their capital is reduced by statutory deductions. The PFSA notes that if this practice becomes entrenched, it may reduce participants’ future benefits after the age of 60. It also points out that the statutory review of the PPK system is scheduled for 2026 and should provide an opportunity to make the programme more attractive.
Pension fund management companies: lower profit despite the stock market rally
Paradoksalnie, rekordowe wyniki OFE nie przełożyły się na lepsze wyniki finansowe zarządzających nimi powszechnych towarzystw emerytalnych. Łączny wynik netto ośmiu PTE wyniósł w 2025 r. PLN 643.8m, o 10% mniej niż rok wcześniej. Powodem był gwałtowny, niemal czterokrotny wzrost kosztów wpłat na Fundusz Gwarancyjny – z 56,5 mln zł do 213,2 mln zł (+277%), związany z mechanizmem dopłat wynikającym z dynamicznego wzrostu wartości aktywów OFE. Mimo niższego zysku wszystkie osiem towarzystw zdecydowało się wypłacić dywidendę z zysku za 2024 r. – łącznie 617,4 mln zł, o 71% więcej niż rok wcześniej, co stanowiło 96% zysków netto sektora. Kapitały własne PTE pozostają solidne: na koniec 2025 r. wynosiły łącznie 2,7bn zł, czyli 84% sumy bilansowej, wyraźnie powyżej wymogów regulacyjnych.
The market remains concentrated
Despite growing competition from IKEs and IKZEs, Poland’s pension market remains highly concentrated. The two largest PTEs manage more than 53% of the net assets of all pension funds, while the three largest manage 66%. This structure remained broadly unchanged from 2024. OFEs alone account for 69% of all assets accumulated in the pension system, while their members’ accounts represent 65% of all pension accounts in Poland. At the same time, this was the only segment to record a decline in the number of accounts in 2025, down 2.1%, reflecting the fact that OFEs have been closed to new participants since 2014.
