Pension investment

Important things to remember

  • Returns are an important part of your total pension
  • You can choose between average interest rate and market interest rate

Your pension savings will be invested

AP Pension invests your pension savings so you can get the best possible return and therefore the largest possible pension pot. When you need to withdraw your pension savings, the return that investments give on an ongoing basis can make up a large part of your total pension.

Overall, AP Pension’s customers have savings of more than DKK 175 billion. With such a pool of money, AP Pension can make large, long-term, offensive investments, but at the same time spread the risk. At AP Pension, we believe that this provides the basis for good returns.

What options do you have for investing your pension?

When choosing how to invest your pension savings, you must first and foremost decide whether you want average interest rate or market interest rate – or a combination of both – when your pension is to be invested.

Then it’s up to you to decide how involved you want to be in your investments. In general, there are three options: 

We choose for you. If you want your pension savings to be invested in such a way that the risk gradually decreases as you get older, and without you having to do anything yourself, you can choose the AP Active fund that fits the year in which you are going to retire.

You choose with us. If you want your pension savings to be invested with a fixed risk profile, you can choose between four risk profiles that AP Pension has put together.

You choose on your own. If you want to put together your own pension savings investments, you can choose from a number of funds selected by AP Pension.

You can change your investment selection in Min Pension (only in Danish), where you can also see the funds you can invest in.

Choose between average interest rate and market interest rate

You can choose between average interest rate and market interest rate when your pension savings are to be invested. You can also combine the two, so that part of your savings are invested at average interest rates and the other part at market interest rates.

Average interest rate is for those who want their savings to grow steadily and reasonably predictably. AP Pension generally sets the interest rate for one year at a time. In years of high returns, AP Pension will make sure to put money aside so we can afford to give you reasonable interest rate in years when returns are low.

Market interest rate is for those who prefer the possibility of a higher return rather than running a higher risk of loss. You must be prepared for your return to fluctuate in line with trends in the financial markets. Good years can give you a high return, but in some years this may be a minus figure and your pension savings lose value.

How does AP Pension invest?

AP Pension wants to pursue an active and offensive investment strategy with controlled risk. The strategy aims for you as a customer to achieve an adequate and attractive pension. We invest long-term and are not significantly affected by short-term fluctuations in rates. At AP Pension, we spread our investments across regions and sectors to limit risk.

We invest in a wide range of assets: shares, traditional government and mortgage bonds, corporate and credit bonds, real estate and alternative investments such as wind and solar energy, forestry and agriculture.

Within shares and bonds, we hand pick a few active partners (managers) who find the best investments for us worldwide. We do this because we believe that active management gives our customers the best return and the largest pension pots.

In addition to working for the best possible return for you as a customer, we also want to contribute to the companies in our portfolio moving in a more responsible direction overall. With our responsible investment policy and our product line AP Bæredygtig, we have made it easy to invest your pension with a focus on sustainability.

You can read more about various topics relating to the investment of your pension savings below.

How do you see your return or interest?

You can see your return or interest by logging on to Min Pension (in Danish only). You can follow the figures in kroner and percent every day here – and also see figures for previous years.

If you have Mobil AP on your phone, you can also see returns and interest in the app. It also gives you a visual overview of your figures for the last five years.

Can you change your investment selection?

You can change your investment selection by logging on to Min Pension (in Danish only) and selecting “Investering”.

You can see and change how your current savings and future contributions are invested here.

Which funds can you invest in?

You can see the funds you have the opportunity to invest in – or which AP Pension invests in for you – by clicking here.

Please note that the funds in which you can invest depend on your agreement.

How does AP Pension invest?

AP Pension wants to pursue an active and offensive investment strategy with controlled risk. The strategy aims for you as a customer to achieve an adequate and attractive pension. We invest long-term and are not significantly affected by short-term fluctuations in rates. At AP Pension, we spread our investments across regions and sectors to limit risk.

We invest in a wide range of assets: shares, traditional government and mortgage bonds, corporate and credit bonds, real estate and alternative investments such as wind and solar energy, forestry and agriculture.

Within shares and bonds, we hand pick a few active partners (managers) who find the best investments for us worldwide. We do this because we believe that active management gives our customers the best return and the largest pension pots.

Does AP Pension have a responsible investment policy?

AP Pension’s responsible and sustainable investment policy is based on well-defined and recognized international principles concerning human rights, corruption and the environment. The policy is based on the UN Global Compact and also follows the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the UN’s Guidelines on Human Rights and Business and widely recognized UN conventions. It is AP Pension’s view that by following the international principles, we can ensure responsible management of our customers’ savings. AP Pension is also a member of UN PRI, an independent organization of investors working to promote responsible investment. UN PRI is supported by the UN, but is not part of the UN. UN PRI’s six principles provide guidance on how to achieve a more responsible investment policy.

In addition, we have defined our own exclusion criteria for the companies and activities in which we do not wish to invest.

Our responsible investment policy and exclusion criteria result in us not investing in the following:

  • Companies that are sanctioned by the Danish government, the UN or the EU.
  • Government bonds in countries where the Danish government, the UN or the EU have imposed financial sanctions against the country or against senior executives in the country.
  • Companies that do not comply with AP Pension’s policy and where dialog is ineffective.
  • Companies where a turnover share of 5 percent or more relates to tobacco production.
  • Companies involved in the production of controversial weapons, such as cluster bombs, anti-personnel mines, nuclear weapons and biological and chemical weapons.
  • Companies where a turnover share of 5 percent or more relates to thermal coal extraction, or the company has expansion plans.
  • Companies where a turnover share of 25 percent or more relates to energy production using thermal coal, or the company has expansion plans.
  • Companies where a share of 5 percent or more of the turnover is related to the extraction of tar sands.
  • Companies where a turnover share of 20 percent or more relates to oil and gas upstream activities*

*Upstream activities include exploration, drilling, and extraction of oil and gas

Our external managers are familiar with AP Pension’s responsible and sustainable investment policy. We therefore expect them to follow this when they invest on behalf of AP Pension.

AP Pension systematically screens investments in listed shares and corporate bonds with the help of ESG data providers who specialize in responsible investment. For our unlisted assets, we conduct a pre-investment ESG due diligence process aimed at identifying and mitigating potential adverse impacts on the environment and people. Our ESG requirements are also incorporated as part of our contractual basis with the managers.

As a pension company, we believe it is our duty to exercise our influence, and we also want to contribute to the companies in our portfolio moving in a more responsible direction overall. We do this by exercising “active ownership”, where we monitor companies’ conduct on an ongoing basis and engage in dialog with them to ensure they live up to our policies and principles.

Find out more about AP Pension’s active ownership here

Find out more about AP Pension’s responsible investments here

How does AP Pension carry out its sustainable investment work?

From March 2021, EU regulations set requirements for how we in the financial sector inform our customers about sustainability in their pension savings products. The key objective is to create transparency on how financial companies and their investment products promote environmental and social characteristics. Thus, the rules should support consumers in making informed choices about the purchase of investment products based on knowledge about the providers' integration of sustainability considerations in investment processes in general and in their individual products.

You can learn more about AP Pension’s responsible and sustainable investment work and how we promote environmental and social characteristics in the various pension products and services here.

You can find out more about our climate goals and hear our investment director explain in more detail how we are working to achieve them here

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