Customers saving with Denmark's AP Pension experienced negative returns in the first half of 2022 due to the “turmoil” in financial markets, the pension company’s H1 results have revealed.

Customers who saved into AP Sustainable saw returns of between -7.0 and -11.7 per cent before tax.

AP customers saving in the life cycle product AP Active experienced before tax returns of between -10.9 and -14.7 per cent in the same time period.

Despite the negative returns, AP Pension noted that member losses were “significantly less than the industry average”.

AP Pension CEO, Bo Normann Rasmussen, commented: "Our sustainable investment line has just celebrated its third birthday, and during that time we have created some of the industry's best returns for customers.

“This also applies in the first six months of 2022, when customers in AP Sustainable have lost significantly less than the industry average, regardless of whether you compare with the ordinary life cycle products or with products that have a green or sustainable focus.”

AP Pension also revealed that from the start of the year until the end of June, the number of customers saving in AP Sustainable grew to 48,000, representing an increase of 13,000 on the same period in 2021.

Additionally, the saved value of AP Sustainable grew from around DKK 4.6bn at the start of the year to almost DKK 5bn at the end of June.

It was also revealed that customers saving at average interest rates received positive deposit rates of between 0.25 and 3.8 per cent before tax, depending on the interest rate group.

Elsewhere, AP Pension revealed that it had experienced a loss of DKK 77m after tax in the first half of 2022, a fall from the profit of DKK 390m which was recorded in the same time period in 2021.

This fall was attributed by AP Pension to “developments in the financial market”, such as rising inflation, increasing interest rates and the war in Ukraine.

AP Pension also revealed that customer payments grew by more than 10 per cent to almost DKK 8.8bn in the first half of 2022, compared to DKK 7.9bn in the first half of 2021.

The figure covered an increase in current payments of 6.1 per cent, while deposits and transfers grew by 16.3 per cent.

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