PensionDanmark CEO Torben Möger Pedersen will exit his position on October 1. The occupational pension fund has set aside DKK 29m (EUR 3.88m) - equivalent to two years’ salary as well as a payment during the CEO’s notice period - for a severance agreement with the outgoing CEO. So informs Henning Overgaard, chairman of the board at PensionDanmark, to Danish media Insidebusiness.

He acknowledges that some people may consider it a high sum.

”Some will find the amount criticizable, and I fully understand that. The agreement reflects the terms that were negotiated in the CEO’s contract 20 years ago,” Overgaard says to Insidebusiness.

The remuneration report for 2022 by the EUR 42bn pension fund shows that Möger Pedersen received a total amount of DKK 7.75m (EUR 1.03m) last year as CEO of the pension fund.

Möger Pedersen will step down on October 1 and will be temporarily replaced by current CIO Claus Stampe. Next year, Deputy CEO Peter Stensgaard Mørch, who joined the firm on August 15, will assume the position of CEO.

In comparison, Magnus Billing, former CEO of Sweden’s largest occupational pension company Alecta, received approximately SEK 10m (EUR 0.84m) after he was fired in April, according to Swedish business daily Dagens Industri. The pension fund manages SEK 1.2 trn (EUR 101.5bn) on behalf of 2.6 million private individuals and 35,000 companies in Sweden. 

(This article was provided by our Danish sister media, FinansWatch. Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Katrine Gøthler)