Danish pension and insurance exposure to Russian assets dropped from DKK 9.2bn to DKK 2bn between the start of 2022 and 1 March, according to Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark).

Danish insurance and pension companies invest approximately one-third of their assets in Denmark and the rest abroad to ensure the best possible return for customers. However, pension companies’ exposure to Russia and Belarus was very limited even before the war in Ukraine.

New figures show that they have fallen steadily since the turn of the year as the companies have sold off a large part of their Russian holdings.

“We can clearly see in the figures that the Danish insurance and pension companies have had a large divestment of their Russian investments to the extent that it has actually been possible to sell them,” I&P Denmark CEO, Kent Damsgaard, said.
He points out that the industry as a whole has unequivocally supported the sanctions and strongly dissociates itself from the Russian regime.

“The divestment of Russian investments helps to avoid supporting the Russian regime – at the same time as companies look after the interests of savers by reducing holdings, which otherwise risk losing value,” Damsgaard said.

“In the end, it is always the individual pension company that can concretely assess how to best and most properly handle the investments on behalf of members. But the divestitures clearly show that the industry has shown care, even though losses in such a situation can never be avoided.”

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