The committee working to knock the funds platform of Sweden’s premium pension system into its final shape has been given another six months, and the government has also unveiled where the platform will be run from.
The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs announced yesterday that the government had decided on a supplementary directive regarding the ongoing inquiry into a procured fund marketplace platform (fondtorget) for premium pensions – the system of individual accounts which forms part of Sweden’s first pillar state pension.
The ministry said: “The supplementary directive extends the inquiry period. Furthermore, it states that the board authority the inquiry is preparing the way for will be called ‘The Fund Marketplace Board’ (Fondtorgsnämnden) and that its location will be Botkyrka.”
At the same time, the ministry said, the government was instructing the Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten), in its capacity as host authority, to establish an office for the board in Botkyrka, with a deadline for finalising the task of 30 June 2022.
Botkyrka is a suburb to the south of the Sweden capital which lies within Stockholm County,
“The inquiry’s assignment shall be finalised no later than 30 June 2022,” the ministry added.
This is six months later than the 31 December 2021 limit the ministry gave the panel of experts in March – which already represented a four-month extension from the previous deadline.
The inquiry underwent a big reshuffle in February and March, with 20 people having left at the beginning of March.
The decision to locate the new board in Botkyrka seems at odds with the government’s announcement back in March that the authority would be located somewhere outside Stockholm County.
At the time, Ardalan Shekarabi, minister of social insurance, explained this saying it was important for the state’s legitimacy that it was present throughout the country.
IPE contacted Shekarabi’s spokesperson to explain the change of heart on the location, and is waiting for an official comment.
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