RD36 - VRS Oversight Report No. 35 - VRS (Virginia Retirement System) Biennial Status and Semi-Annual Investment Report - December 2010


Executive Summary:
While the recent global recession created significant investment challenges for VRS, economic conditions have shown gradual improvement, and VRS assets have recovered some of the losses experienced in 2008 and 2009. With $50.8 billion in assets as of September 30, 2010, the VRS pension fund achieved a return of 11.7 percent for the one-year period. The value of the total fund increased by $3.9 billion between September 30, 2009 and September 30, 2010. The fund’s performance exceeded established benchmarks in all but the three-year period ending September 30, 2010. While the fund did not earn the assumed rate of return of seven percent for the three-, five-, and ten-year periods, it did add value (160 basis points) over the long-term benchmark for the ten-year period.