ATP chief Rohde leaves to head Danish central bank

Lars Rohde, chief executive of the leading responsible investment institution ATP, the DKK600bn (€80.6bn) Danish pension fund giant, has been named as the new head of Denmark’s central bank (Nationalbank), as of February 1 2013.

ATP, a signatory to the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), was among the global investors that formulated the Principles for Responsible Investment in Farmland last year. The fund helped to found Danish social investment forum Dansif in 2008.
In 2009 it pledged €1bn to a new climate change fund for investing in emerging economies. It’s a backer of a pilot project of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).
No successor to Rohde has been named as yet, ATP said.

Rohde, 58, will replace Nils Bernstein who is retiring as head of the Nationalbank’s three-member board at the age of 70. He returns to an institution he worked for as an economist between 1982 and 1985.“Lars Rohde is very qualified to manage the tasks that the Nationalbank faces,” said Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

“He has extensive knowledge of and experience with the bank’s responsibilities, and he is widely recognised for his work as CEO of ATP.”

Following his tenure at the Danish central bank, Rohde took over as CEO of a doctors’ pension fund and later worked in various management roles at a Danish mortgage firm. He joined ATP as CEO in 1998.

“Rohde is very qualified to manage the Nationalbank” – Danish PM

Rohde also has served as a board member of Copenhagen’s stock exchange since 1993. In 2002, he was appointed to a bourse committee dealing with corporate governance.

Last year, ATP said it had persuaded Goldman Sachs Asset Management and PIMCO, two of the world’s biggest asset managers, to sign up to the PRI.