SWEDEN - Mårten Andersson has been appointed chief executive of Skandia's Nordic operations.

He is replacing Bertil Hult, who is stepping down on 1 December, which he announced during the summer.

Andersson has been with Skandia for 14 years, mainly working at the company's international operations, where he has headed operations in Chile, Mexico and Italy.

After serving more than a year as head of Old Mutual's wealth management operations in continental Europe, Andersson returned to Skandia's Nordic operations during the spring of 2010.

Skandia is owned by Old Mutual.

In other news, AP funds 1-4 have all joined the institutional investor lobby group for climate change Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) in bid to strengthen their work and role in the area.

Annika Andersson, chairman of the Ethical Council, set up by jointly by the funds, said climate change was an important issue for the funds as long-term investors.

She also said there was currently great uncertainty regarding the rules and regulations governing the reduction of green house gases and the encouragement of finding alternative sources of energy, which made it more difficult for companies to make profitable investments or calculate risk and reward.

The IIGCC currently has more than 50 members, including some of the largest pension funds and asset managers in Europe, representing around €5trn.

Members include the USS and West Midlands Pension Fund in the UK, Dutch funds such as PGGM and APG, the asset management arm of ABP, and Denmark's ATP.

Meanwhile, Swedbank's insurance arm has recruited six key professionals in recent weeks, including a head of asset management, a chief actuary and a chief economist.

Per-Erik Gullnäs, chief executive of Swedbank's insurance operations, said the new recruits gave the company better opportunities to grow its life and pensions businesses.

The insurance arm of Swedbank has 140 employees, with a total premium income of SEK22bn (€3.4bn).

The new recruits include Carlos Barriuso, head of compliance, who joined in August from DnB Nor; Patrik Nygren-Bonnier, head of sales and marketing, who joined in June from advertisement company Vargen Reklambyrå; and Peter Elmhorn, head of asset management, who also joined in June from Danske Capital.

Peter Henn, chief actuary, will be joining in December from Skandia, while Michael Lundin joined as chief economist in June from Länsförsäkringar.

Elisabeth Äng, chief risk officer, is joining in December from Skandia.

Finally, according to a survey by AMF, the pension and insurance provider, most Swedish pensioners are content with their retirement.

More than 70% were happy with the timing of their retirement, whereas 18% would have preferred to stay in employment for longer and 9% would have wanted to retire earlier.

On average, 84% of the pensioners are fairly or very content with their lives and few were surprised about their finances after retirement, with 67% saying it was as expected or even better.

Carina Blomberg, welfare economist at AMF, said it was interesting to see the majority of the participants were happy with the timing of their retirement, considering the debate about increasing retirement age.

She also pointed about that almost one in five wanted to stay longer in employment, adding that the longer someone considered working, the better the chances of a good financial situation as a pensioner.

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