DENMARK - Danish pension insurer Danica saw positive returns and an increase in pension premiums for the first quarter of 2010.

Danica Balance and Danica Link, both market-based products where customers can select their own investment profiles, returned 5.4%, or DKK1.9bn (€255m).

Danica Traditionel, which provides investors with a set rate of guaranteed interest on their savings, returned 3%, equivalent of DKK5.3bn during the time period.

Danica’s total pension premiums also increased by 25% to DKK6.5bn, mainly as a result of increased business at the firm’s subsidiaries in Sweden and Norway.

Total pension premiums fell by 1% in Denmark to DKK4.5bn, but Danica’s subsidiaries in Sweden and Norway more than compensated for: total pension premiums for the group as a whole increased by 25% to DKK6.5bn.

The total pension premiums of the two new market-based products, Danica Balance and Danica Link, now equal that of the traditional product, Danica Traditionel.

Henrik Ramlau-Hansen, chief executive at Danica, said most customers have now come through the financial crises having more than regained the losses from 2008. The performance in its traditional pension product of 3% compared well to the loss of 1.2% for the same period last year, he added.

The reserves for the traditional pension product have also increased by DKK1.5bn to DKK4.3bn, which Ramlau-Hansen described as a positive development.