Key Takeaways:
- Only 3% of Danish funds are managed by women or all-female teams, the lowest share in the Nordic region.
- Three times as many funds are run by a man called Anders than a woman.
- Asset managers point to low turnover and a lack of female applicants as key barriers to increasing representation.
Morningstar data shows that the Danish fund market remains overwhelmingly male when it comes to managers. Of 758 Denmark-domiciled open-ended funds, 537 are managed solely by men, equivalent to 71% of the market.
By contrast, just 21 funds are managed by women or all-female teams, representing 3% of the total. Nearly three times as many funds, 62, have a manager called Anders.
Mixed-gender teams, where at least one woman co-manages alongside male colleagues, account for only 5% of funds and many of the country’s largest asset managers currently have no female portfolio managers within their Danish fund teams.
It is a stark reminder of the gender imbalance in Danish fund management, where the largest funds are overwhelmingly managed by men and female representation remains extremely limited.
In terms of assets under management, female managers account for just 2% of total fund assets in Denmark, compared to 53% managed by all-male teams. Mixed-gender teams control 11% of total assets, and 34% of AUM lacks disclosed manager data, highlighting the opacity around fund management composition in Denmark.
The analysis is based on the oldest share class of Danish-domiciled funds, covering 758 funds in total.
Nordic Comparisons Highlight Denmark’s Gender Gap
When compared with its Nordic peers, Denmark ranks lowest in terms of overall female representation in fund management. While Sweden leads the region with 8% of funds managed by women or all-female teams, Finland follows with 6%. Denmark and Norway each have just 3%, underscoring how scarce female fund managers remain in the region.
The gap is even more pronounced when looking at mixed-gender teams. Only 5% of Danish funds are managed by a team including at least one woman alongside male colleague. That is far behind Norway, where 23% of funds have mixed management teams, and Sweden, where the figure stands at 16%. Finland is slightly ahead of Denmark but still modest at 11%. Despite a slight increase from 2025, when just 1% of Danish funds were female-managed, the dominant pattern remains clear across the Nordic markets: The vast majority of funds continue to be managed exclusively by men.
Asset Managers Point to Limited Female Pipeline
Majinvest, one of Denmark’s largest independent investment houses, which currently has no female portfolio managers in its Danish fund teams, points to a limited pipeline of female candidates and few openings for women to become managers.
“Our investment teams are very stable, which naturally means there are relatively few openings for new talent, regardless of gender,” says Tomas Munksgard Hoff, senior manager at Majinvest, adding that female managers are something the company “would very much welcome”
“When we have advertised positions - both roles with direct investment responsibility and those that could, over time, lead to portfolio management - we have not received applications from women,” he says.
C WorldWide Asset Management similarly points to the limited pipeline of female candidates as a challenge across the industry. The firm emphasizes the importance of introducing young people to finance early, promoting visible female role models, and fostering an inclusive workplace culture with genuine work–life balance as ways to attract more women into portfolio management.
“Often when it comes down to finance, especially asset management, work-life balance is a big question. It’s something we take seriously, and creating an inclusive culture where men and women work together in diverse teams is an important part of making the industry more attractive to women considering portfolio management,” says Vevika Søberg, Head of Communication at C WorldWide Asset Management.
