Sweden’s biggest pension fund, still in limbo due to official probes into bad investments, fired its chief actuary for “inappropriate” criticism of the watchdog last month – and has now been handed an SEK1.5m (€136,000) lawsuit for unlawful dismissal.
Anders Munk, chief actuary at Alecta since 2017, was dismissed by the SEK1.35trn occupational pension fund in September for his behaviour in levelling criticism at the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinpektionen, FI).
Munk, who has been a chief actuary at large Swedish pension funds for the last 10 years, confirmed to IPE that he has filed a lawsuit with the Attunda District Court in Sweden, seeking compensation for what he considers to be an unlawful dismissal.
Describing the background to his dismissal, Munk said he had submitted a formal whistleblower report to FI about “how certain senior officials at the authority were acting in ways that, in my view, conflicted with fundamental principles of Swedish administrative law – not about the authority’s supervisory decisions or its stance in specific cases.”
“The report was submitted in good faith, under the Swedish Whistleblower Act and the EU Directive, and clearly aimed at protecting the public interest and the rule of law,” he said, adding that Alecta initiated a process that led to his dismissal shortly after that.
Munk said: “I maintain that this constituted a retaliatory measure linked to the whistleblowing, which is prohibited under both Swedish and European law.”
Asked by IPE to comment on the matter, Alecta’s chief executive officer Peder Hasslev said: “This is about an employee raising an issue and criticising an authority on their own initiative and in an inappropriate manner.”
“It is my responsibility to ensure that employees at Alecta act in a trustworthy and objective manner in their relationship with authorities,” he said.
“This is self-evident, and particularly important for high-ranking executives,” Hasslev noted.
He added: “Our position has no connection whatsoever to the investigations that FI is conducting about Alecta’s investments in the American banks and Heimstaden Bostad.”
Hasslev was brought in two years ago to run the Swedish occupational pensions giant in the wake of a reputational crisis over some large failed or loss-making investments – holdings in three niche US banks which had to be written off and losses on a large stake in Swedish residential company Heimstaden Bostad.
FI has been conducting two separate investigations into those since 2023, but has yet to reach final conclusions on them, which could include sanctions.
Munk told IPE the main purpose of his “whistleblowing” had been to discuss what he saw as a serious omission within FI’s internal handling, and also to explore how he could work with FI on the “substantive issue” of the actuarial function’s role under Swedish law and EU law.
“The intention was never to challenge the authority’s supervisory decisions, but to open a confidential and professional dialogue on how these legal responsibilities should be interpreted and applied,” he said.
However, Munk’s whistleblowing report was treated by FI as a complaint, and as such, was not kept confidential.
A spokesman for FI told IPE the authority had received a letter from Munk containing views on FI’s handling and assessments in a case that concerned a company other than the one where he worked, and that the authority had had a dialogue with him on the views he presented.
“FI’s external whistleblower function should not be used to submit views, complaints or questions about FI’s decisions,” the spokesman said.
“This is clear from the whistleblower function. It should be used to submit misconduct at companies under FI’s supervision. This is also clear,” he told IPE.
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