- A record number of prenuptial agreements were signed in Denmark in 2024, which Sampension has highlighted as "good news" from an economic equality perspective.

The latest figures from the Danish Land Registry revealed that the number of registered marriage contracts set a new record last year, as 10,247 marriage contracts were registered in Denmark in 2024, marking the highest level ever. Sampension chief advisor, Helle Dalsgaard, highlighted this as reflection of the fact that Danes are generally becoming more focused on their personal finances. Dalsgaard said that this news is also particularly positive from an equality perspective, as these can be a great financial help when parties are separating, especially for women. "For example, getting divorced can cost women dearly in terms of their pension," Dalsgaard explained. "Because, unlike other assets, pension savings are not generally divided upon divorce. Instead, the parties each take their pension savings with them out of the marriage, and this typically affects women, as they generally have less savings than men. But in a marriage contract, spouses can agree that the pensions, for example, are to be divided equally upon divorce."

- The number of pension funds in Iceland is falling following key mergers, the Icelandic Pension Funds Association has revealed.

The association confirmed that the number of pension funds is set to decrease, after it was agreed that the Reykjavík City Employees' Pension Fund is merging with Brú Pension Fund. According to the Pension Funds Association, a special department has been established at Brú, called R, which will manage the operations, assets, debts and obligations of the Reykjavík City Employees' Pension Fund. The merger is expected to lead to financial benefits as well as better utilization of staff.

- Nordea has donated €200,000 to biodiversity research in the Nordic region.

The donation will help fund a four-year research programme at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, which is working to develop openly available methods to assess how economic activity impacts biodiversity. The research will focus on how economic activity affects biodiversity in the Nordic countries, and the challenges and opportunities in assessing this. In particular, it will look at sectors that have a significant impact on biodiversity, or are particularly vulnerable to biodiversity loss - for example, the real estate sector. The results of the research will be made openly available, and are therefore expected to help contribute to the sustainability transition in the Nordic region.

- Royal London Ireland has launched two new products, a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) and a PRSA with Additional Voluntary Contributions.

The new extended product range is designed to give advisers greater flexibility and choices and are the first new pension products to launch using the enhanced functionality on Ipipeline's SSG Digital platform. Commenting on the launch, Royal London Ireland CIO, David Caswell, said: “Following on from the successful launch of our new pensions business in Ireland, we were delighted to continue using the SSG Digital platform when launching our new regular premium product in 2024 - the latest addition to our pension product range. The SSG Digital technology has enabled Royal London Ireland to deliver a compelling proposition to the market and the feedback from financial brokers has been phenomenal. They like how simple and user-friendly the system is and have provided very positive feedback to us regarding the quality of our technology.”

- Staff at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) have now returned to the bank's renovated office at Frederiksplein in Amsterdam.

Staff have now returned to the office after almost five years of renovation, which began after the organisation found that the building was "technically worn out" and no longer met sustainability requirements. As part of the renovation, the bank has also built a new public area, called The New Treasury (De Nieuwe Schatkamer), which will be open to visitors from March 2025. Commenting on the renovation, DNB President, Klaas Knot, said: "We work for all Dutch people on stable prices, on solid and honest financial institutions, on reliable and stable payment transactions. In fact, on sustainable prosperity for all Dutch people. This building will help us enormously in this."

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