Large pension schemes are failing to take advantage of potential economies of scale to reduce their administration costs, so forcing investment teams to make better returns to fund their inefficiencies, a study published this week has found.

A study published by the Dutch National Bank showed that the average cost per head for pension scheme administration went down as the number of members and assets increased. However, once a scheme had over one million members, or assets over €100bn ($128bn), they began to cost more to run, without providing better service to participants.