Pensionskassen Arkitekter & Designere (PAD), the Danish pension fund for architects and designers, generated a return of 9.2 per cent for its members in market rate plans and 7.9 per cent for those in average interest rate plans in 2023.

Publishing its full-year results, the pension fund said 2023 “offered decent returns for PAD members”.

Payments to PAD increased by 2.6 per cent last year to DKK 452m. PAD's balance sheet was DKK 11.7bn in 2023, when the number of members grew to 11,100.

PAD CEO, Mads Smith Hansen, said last year exceeded most people’s expectations in turns of returns, especially due to a “terrific final rally in the stock markets in November and December”.

"The development in 2023 – and also in the beginning of 2024, where the tailwinds in the markets have continued – means that the lost return from 2022 has now been made up. This is, of course, positive and also a reminder that it is important to view pension savings as long-term savings.

“While it's never fun to experience years with negative returns, fortunately, they are rare. On the contrary, markets tend to recover quickly, and in the longer term, pension savings will generally grow over the years," Smith Hansen concluded.

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