A Swedish insurance company has set up a wholly-owned asset management subsidiary, believing that many Swedish companies are planning to convert pension assets from book reserves to externally managed segregated assets.

SPP Investment Management , was previously a division within Swedish insurer SPP, managing assets internally.

Vice president Staffan Elmgren said that the company was bidding for several contracts at the moment and was hoping to announce new mandates this month.

He added: Many large corporations are reviewing their pension management and we believe that several, currently using the book reserve system may wish to set up separate portfolios for which they need experienced long-term managers."

He continued: "Many Swedish municipalities have also come to realise that they need to increase their funding in order to meet their future pension liabilities."

The company manages the as-sets of parent company Försäk-ringsbolaget SPP, SPP itself and subsidiary SPP Life, but is now doing so on a segregated basis. No assets have been transferred otherwise. Elmgren added: "Funds under management will grow only by new accounts being awarded."

Elmgren added: "We will mainly be offering balanced mandates.""