As the summer lull continues in the Nordic pensions industry, key issues are nevertheless demanding attention. In Sweden’s premium pension system, it is now six months since a new set of fund management firms were appointed to manage global equities on the reformed funds platform, which promises better terms for customers.
But no pension savings have yet been transferred to the new managers because of a legal challenge to the Fund Selection Agency’s (FTN) procurement process by Swedish manager Indecap Fonder.
The firm, which lost out in the procurement, has now escalated its legal arguments, calling for an EU preliminary court ruling, which – if sought – is likely to lead to further delays.
In Iceland, merger activity in the pension fund industry has progressed further and is even speeding up. Fewer pension funds ought to mean cheaper pension fund supervision for the Financial Supervisory Authority of the Central Bank of Iceland – or so the Icelandic Pension Funds Association (LL) reasons. But Jón Ólafur Halldórsson, LL chair, says that since 2006, the overall fee paid by the sector has actually increased significantly.
People in the North Atlantic country are gearing up for a referendum at the end of this month on restarting EU membership talks. Among the many aspects to the debate around the public vote, LL has raised the issue of how EU membership might affect pension funds, suggesting Iceland could follow the Finnish example. It was agreed during Finland’s EU accession negotiations that the four pension insurance companies would not be subject to the predecessor of the bloc’s solvency regulation.
Three Nordic pension funds have made their voices heard in the US SEC’s consultation on its proposed rescission of its climate disclosure rules for listed companies, in contrast to pension funds from elsewhere in Europe. Norwegian SWF manager NBIM, Sweden’s state pension fund AP7 and Denmark’s AkademikerPension all submitted letters to the US securities markets regulator discouraging the Commission from scrapping the rules.
“Rescission would be detrimental to AP7 and other long-term investors,” said AP7, while NBIM included suggestions to the SEC for alternatives to outright rescission, which it said would address the concerns about scope and cost.
Items to note:
- Pablo Bernengo, who takes over on 1 September as CEO of Alecta, tells IPE in an interview about the tough restructuring work the Swedish pension fund carried out in his time as CIO.
- Ilmarinen CIO Annika Ekman describes how the Finnish pension insurer – along with peers – diversified over the years from local, mostly fixed income investments to a large global equities exposure.
- This year’s IPE Iceland event for senior Icelandic pension fund investors will take place on 14 October in Reykjavik at the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre.
Rachel Fixsen
Nordic and Netherlands Correspondent
This newsletter was emailed to readers earlier in the week. If you would like to receive it regularly, on your IPE profile, go to My Newsletters and select any from the list.
