PFA is shrinking its investment team while retaining substantial exposure to private markets, raising questions about how the Danish pension giant’s investment model is evolving.
The number of full-time employees in PFA’s investment department has fallen from 136 in 2020 to 91, according to PFA accounts for the period, first highlighted by Danish financial publications. This represents a reduction of 45 employees, or 33%.
The reduction has reportedly taken place in two rounds, with staffing reduced first in equities and subsequently in the illiquid-assets operation. The changes form part of a broader simplification of PFA’s investment activities, including decisions to no longer invest directly in some areas.
The development comes as PFA seeks to improve efficiency and exploit economies of scale. Its strategy to 2030 puts technology and simpler operations at the centre of efforts to lower costs and improve services for customers.
According to PFA’s strategy announcement earlier this year, the fund expects customer assets to increase to around DKK1.1trn by 2030, from approximately DKK760bn when the strategy was launched in January. It is also targeting an 8-15% reduction in average investment costs for customers over the strategy period. [PFA strategy announcement, 30 January 2026]
The staffing reduction does not appear to reflect weaker financial performance. PFA reported a result before tax and profit-sharing of DKK2.74bn in 2025, compared with DKK2.47bn in 2024. Customer assets increased by DKK68bn during the year to DKK746bn.
The investment cuts are concentrated in a relatively small part of PFA’s wider workforce. PFA reported 1,485 employees across the group at the end of 2025, while the average number of full-time employees at PFA fell from 1,443 in 2024 to 1,391 in 2025.
Yet PFA remains a significant private markets investor. At the end of 2024, it held DKK36.4bn in private equity, DKK13.2bn in infrastructure and DKK12.2bn in illiquid credit, according to Denmark’s financial regulator.
The question is how PFA will reconcile a leaner internal investment organisation with its sizeable private markets portfolio: what will remain in-house, what will move to external managers, and how will it retain the expertise and oversight needed to manage those assets.
PFA did not respond to IPE questions before publishing.
