Top small provident fund nearly doubled in 2009: The 4th ranked large provident fund in 2009 barely covered management fees over three years. [Globes, Tel Aviv, Israel]

Jan. 18--2008 and 2009 were highly unusual years for worse and better, respectively, for the financial industry. Therefore, looking just at 2009 alone, or even both years, is an irrelevant exercise. To calculate which is Israel's best performing provident fund, it is necessary to take a step back and examine the three-year yield.

For example, the Or Provident Fund of Psagot Investment House Ltd. (which acquired it from Prisma Investment House in April 2009), was the fourth ranked large provident fund tracked by "Globes" (defined as a provident fund with more than NIS 1 billion in assets under management), with a yield of 35.07 percent in 2009, but posted a three-year return of just 1.36 percent. At the same time, the fund collected a management fee of 0.96 percent of assets in 2008 alone. In other words, after deducting management fees over the three-year period, investors paid Or Provident Fund for the privilege of losing their money. Being the fourth ranked large provident fund for 2009 suddenly seems less impressive.

The top-ranked large provident fund in 2007-09 is the Tamar Provident Fund, owned by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS), with a return of 25.78 percent. Even when it was owned by a bank, Tamar was considered a top-rated fund. Clal Insurance's Gefen Provident Fund was in second place with a three-year return of 24.71 percent.

The top-ranked small provident fund in 2007-09 is Clal Insurance's Dagesh Eitan Provident Fund, with a yield of 28 percent. The Tagmulim Provident Fund of Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) is in second place, with a return of 25.21 percent.

For 2009, the top ranked large provident fund is Clal Insurance's Gefen Provident Fund, with a return of 38.38 percent, followed by the Gemel Provident Fund owned by DS Apex Holdings Ltd. (TASE:DSAP), with a return of 36.77 percent, and Clal Insurance's Tamar Provident Fund, with a return of 36.30 percent. Tamar is Israel's second largest provident fund, with NIS 11.6 billion in assets under management.

Among the small provident funds tracked by "Globes" (with between NIS 300 million and NIS 1 billion in assets under management), funds of Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. (TASE:ANLT) were once again the best performing funds. Analyst's Gemel Clali B Provident Fund was in first place, with a yield of 94.13 percent in 2009, and its Gemel Clali Provident Fund was in second place, with a yield of 61.22 percent.

It should be borne in mind, however, that both funds were at the bottom of the "Globes" ranking in 2008.

DS Apex's Platina Provident Fund was in third place, with a yield of 53.44 percent.

At the bottom of the 2009 rankings are bond-based provident funds, which own few, if any stocks.

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