In a world where diversity is increasingly recognized as critical drivers of long-term success, our new report reveals that Nordic pension funds are falling short in integrating these principles into their investment strategies. The analysis, which covers over 27,000 equity investments across 21 Nordic pension funds, highlights significant gaps in diversity performance, particularly in leadership roles.
Key findings from the report
Sweden worst, Norway best in diversity performance
All pension funds demonstrate exposure to bottom-quartile-performing companies, meaning they invest in the 25% lowest-performing companies benchmarked against their country peers.
Sweden has the highest exposure to companies that rank in the bottom quartile for diversity performance, while Norway has the least. This indicates that Swedish pension funds are more likely to invest in companies that underperform in terms of diversity compared to their peers.
Sweden is also the worst performer on gender and Norway the best.7% of the analyzed Swedish retirement funds are invested in bottom-quartile gender performers. In comparison, only 1% of the analyzed Norwegian investments are invested in bottom-quartile gender performers.
Women in leadership
On average, 11% of investments are in companies with no women in leadership positions, either on the board or in the executive team.Denmark has the highest percentage of such investments at 13%, while Finland has the lowest at 5%.
Out of the 27,000+ analyzed equity investments:
· 1,309 individual investments (5%) are in companies with no women on the board.
· 4,807 individual investments (18%) are in companies with no women in the executive team.
Together, this represents over USD 100 billion invested in firms without any women in leadership roles.
Denmark leads in transparency
Danish pension funds are significantly more transparent than their Nordic counterparts, with more funds disclosing their equity holdings publicly. This level of transparency enables better governance and accountability, setting a benchmark for other countries to follow.
Cognitive diversity: Boards vs. executive teams
The report highlights a disparity in cognitive diversity between boards and executive teams. On average, 15% of Nordic retirement funds are invested in companies with the lowest levels of cognitive diversity in the executive team, compared to 9% for boards. This suggests that cognitive diversity is less prioritized in executive teams than in boards.
A Call to Action
In a world where diversity is increasingly recognized as critical drivers of long-term success, our new report reveals that Nordic pension seemingly still have not fully integrated these factors into their ownership and investment strategies.
This first analysis of Nordic pension funds' investments from a diversity perspective serves as the starting point for a more detailed report on this topic in 2025. While not all Nordic pension funds were included in this study, the report also acts as an open invitation for all Nordic pension funds to contact Denominator and submit their portfolio holdings confidentially. No names will be disclosed unless explicit permission is granted.
It is worth highlighting that full transparency at the equity portfolio holding level already seems to be the industry standard in Denmark. The Norwegian Oil Fund also provides full transparency and even has a dedicated website for this purpose (see here). We can only hope that this level of transparency is adopted more widely by otherNordic pension funds, in the spirit of accountability to their customers and the broader population.
The data underscores the need for pension funds to adopt amore structured approach to integrating social considerations into their investment strategies. By doing so, they can not only improve their financial performance but also contribute to a more equitable and inclusive society.
Explore how Denominator can support your journey toward responsible investing by contacting our team at info@denominator.com
