Pension fund enters global top 10

The National Social Security pension fund entered the world's top 10, by assets, at the end of 2012, according to a report by Pensions & Investment and Towers Watson.

The fund has seen robust growth in the past five years with assets under management amounting to $17.7 billion at the end of 2012, the report said.

It is expected to become one of the world's top three pension funds over the next three years as an aging population grows, according to Mao Xiaotong, deputy general manager of the China investment consulting department at Towers Watson.

The Government Pension Investment of Japan leads the ranking with assets under management topping $129.2 billion, followed by the Norway pension fund with assets of $71.3 billion.

China's pension fund has seen rapid growth between 2007 and 2012 with average annualized growth hitting 20.2 percent.

China's NSS is also the sixth largest sovereign pension fund by total assets, the report said.