Stockholm (NordSIP) – In a recent press release, AkademikerPension responded to criticism from Finans.dk regarding their investment in government bonds from countries on the EU’s blacklist of tax havens, such as Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.
The pension fund emphasised that they consider tax evasion and aggressive tax planning to be harmful to society. They focus their efforts on influencing companies that engage in such practices through active ownership, divestment, or exclusion. However, they stated that as a Danish pension fund, it is beyond their ability to change the tax laws of states by avoiding investments in their government bonds. Instead, they direct their efforts toward companies where they can make a tangible difference.
Board Chair Janne Gleerup explained that the countries themselves do not commit tax fraud but facilitate it, and the issue can only be addressed through intergovernmental action. “The countries themselves are not guilty of tax fraud, but they facilitate it, and this issue can only be solved through agreements between states,” she stated in the press release, in Danish.
She also pointed out that prominent tax havens include countries like the United States, the UK, and Ireland, where many pension funds have investments. AkademikerPension strives for transparency in their investments and exclusions, which are publicly available on their website.
They further clarified that avoiding all investments in countries considered tax havens would limit their ability to sufficiently diversify their investment portfolio, which is critical for managing risk and securing members’ pension savings. Consequently, their primary focus remains on influencing companies that exploit such jurisdictions for tax avoidance.
