Nordic pension funds have tended to invest more in companies with stronger social performance over the last three years. The gaps between funds are still wide, though, and some long-standing issues have barely moved.
The Human Factor 2026 is Denominator’s fourth annual peer analysis of Nordic pension portfolios. It covers more than 35,000 equity investments held by funds in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. This year’s analysis uses Denominator’s Human Capital dataset, including the Social Model, which scores companies on Human Rights, Labor Practices, Health & Safety, and Diversity. Each company is compared with listed peers in the same industry or country, depending on the metric. A fund’s exposure is the share of its capital in companies in the bottom quartile of those peers.
Key findings
USD 250bn is invested in companies with no women on the executive team. That is 13.2% of all capital analyzed, down from 15.3% in 2024.
Your pension fund choice matters. Health & Safety exposure ranges from 3.4% in the least exposed fund to 11.3% in the most exposed. Human Rights exposure ranges from 1.6% to 5.7%.
Executive teams lag boards on cognitive diversity. This is the case in 24 of the 25 funds. The average fund has 3.0% of its capital in companies with the least cognitively diverse executive teams, against 0.9% for boards.
Funds are investing more in tightly networked boards. 56.0% of capital in the average fund sits with the most interconnected boards, up from 48.6% in 2025.
Exposure has fallen on every pillar. In the average fund, Health & Safety exposure fell from 15.2% in 2024 to 6.0% in 2026, and Human Rights exposure from 16.0% to 3.7%.
Why it matters financially
Preliminary Denominator research on large and mid cap companies from 2022 to 2024 finds that:
- Companies in the top quartile on executive cognitive diversity have median EBITDA margins 35% higher than those in the bottom quartile.
- Companies whose executive teams are more than 30% women have median EBITDA margins 26% higher than those where women hold 20% or less.
- Companies with no forced labor allegations have EBITDA margins 20% higher.
These are associations and do not establish cause and effect.
See how your portfolio compares
Funds investing in the same markets hold very different shares of capital in bottom-quartile companies. This suggests portfolio construction and engagement can make a measurable difference.
We invite other Nordic pension funds to share their holdings with Denominator, in confidence, to broaden the peer analysis. No fund is named without its explicit permission.
To discuss a portfolio assessment, contact Anders Rodenberg, Emma Helbo, Kristian Wredstroem, or Aston Chan at info@denominator.com.
For media communications, contact Al Smith at al.smith@denominator.com
Download the two-page summary to access the full interactive report.
