The new mandates would be part of an effort to provide its 44,000 members with another investment option. Currently, there are only two options, both of which invest heavily in bonds.

Riccardo Cesari, chief investment officer at the fund, explained that the new options should be available in June or July.

He said: “This year we are including a third option that will be more dynamic and have 50 per cent in bonds and 50 percent in equities.”

One important aspect of the fund is that all assets must follow socially responsible investment guidelines. This was a choice made by the fund’s board and has been intact since it began in 2004.

Eurofer’s other two funds, the guarantee fund and the balanced fund, have allocations of 95 per cent bonds with 5 per cent equities and 80 per cent bonds and 20 per cent equities respectively.

The contracts on the mandates for the balanced fund are also set to expire this year.

Mr Cesari said there were also possibilities the fund would invest in real estate and private equity. These asset classes are now available to Italian funds thanks to recent reforms.

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