Bulgaria’s financial regulator Wednesday set at 5.02% the minimum return for the nation’s universal pension funds over the 2-year period ended March 30, 2007. The minimum return for the occupational funds is set at 5.19% for the review period. The annualized return of the 2.5m Bulgarians with universal pension accounts varies between 6% and 15%. The regulator explained the wide spread with the different speed with which the universal funds moved to restructure their investment portfolios after Bulgaria loosened the investment rules for pension insurance companies. Saglasie and CCB-Sila, part of the Central Co-operative Bank group, posted the highest yields: 12.23% and 15.07% for the universal funds and 13.39% and 14.26% for the occupational divisions. The funds that exceeded the return limit will have to allocate the balance to reserves. Experts attributed the excellent performance of the CCB funds with profitable stock exchange investments.