Germany has “lost importance” as an investment destination, according to Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark), despite Danish pension savers having DKK 294bn invested in the country.

Outside of Denmark, Germany is second behind the US for investments by Danish pension savers, with each Dane having around DKK 50,000 invested in Germany through their pension savings.

Yet, I&P Denmark has warned that its importance as an investment country has diminished, not least due to a long period of recession. Danes’ investments in the country have decreased from 8 per cent of total Danish pension holdings in 2018 to 6 per cent in today.

"Germany is a close business partner for Denmark. This is also reflected in the pension companies' investments, where Danes have invested DKK 294bn. This makes Germany the third largest investment country after Denmark and the US for Danish pension savings,” I&P Denmark deputy director, Tom Vile Jensen, said.

However, he noted that the “German growth engine has been struggling in recent years”.

“This means that Danish kroner are also increasingly looking elsewhere. So, while Germany is still both large and important for Danish pension investments, the Germans have lost ground,” he said.

Vile Jensen is hopeful for more investment opportunities in the German transition in the coming years, but also in the rest of Europe.

“The entire EU is suffering from low growth. We simply don't focus enough on making it attractive to invest. And we have too much bureaucracy in Europe, which ultimately costs money on the investment account, and it is a fundamental task for Denmark and Germany to fight for better investment conditions in the EU," he said.

On 31 March, I&P Denmark, along with Think Tank Europe, is hosting an Investment Summit (Danish language), focusing on investment in Europe with the new trade war in mind.

German businesses are expected to feature heavily in this, from Adidas and sports to Volkswagen and cars to SAP and the IT industry.

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