The next procurement by Sweden’s Fund Selection Agency (Fondtorgsnämnden, FTN) for the reformed premium pension funds platform is set to be launched in the third quarter of this year, and will be for actively managed healthcare and biotech equity funds, according to the agency.
The FTN said the procurement covers a category that currently comprises around SEK29bn (€2.7bn) of savings invested between the 11 actively managed healthcare and biotech funds on the platform, and affects some 250,000 savers.
In its announcement yesterday, the Tumba-based agency, which was tasked in 2022 with gradually replacing the platform’s offering with quality-assured funds, said: “This is FTN’s 14th procurement and is currently assessed as likely to be published in the third quarter of 2026.”
The FTN also released figures showing that one category of funds procured in its second process – European index funds – had produced higher returns on average than the previous range of funds on offer in that category.
With 12 months of data now available after the date when all procured European index funds became available on the premium pension fund platform – 31 January 2025 – the agency said the procured funds had an average return of 4.85% during the period, compared with 4.56% for the previous offering.
Viktor Strom, the FTN’s head of communications, said: “The result is interesting because no new funds were procured; the entire positive effect comes from three funds being removed and fees being reduced for the remaining funds.” He noted that differences in returns between index funds were often due to funds tracking different indices.
In the first category procured by the agency, actively managed European equity funds, the agency said the average return during the first year was nearly 1.5 percentage points higher than the previous fund offering, where all funds meeting basic criteria could be listed.
Ström said this comparative returns data confirmed the pattern the agency had expected to see, with the selection process having the greatest positive effect for actively managed equity funds, and a positive but smaller effect for index funds.
Erik Fransson, FTN executive director, said one year was too short a period to draw any firm conclusions.
“But we view the results as an indication that reinforces our assessment that the average return will increase by around 0.5 percentage points per year once all funds within the premium pension system have been procured,” he said.
“That may sound small, but over time it means 1,000 kronor more per month in pension for life for millions of Swedes,” he added.
