Sweden’s Fund Selection Agency (Fondforgsnämnden, FTN) announced the the results of its first tender this morning, revealing the names of six successful asset management firms – three of which are Nordic including three Swedish bidders.
Publishing its award decision in the procurement of actively-managed large/mid cap European equity funds, launched in July 2023 for Sweden’s reformed funds platform in its premium pension system, the authority said six fund managers had been granted fund agreements.
The winners and their funds are: Abrdn Investments Luxembourg, with its European Sustainable Equity Fund; AMF Fonder with AMF Aktiefond Europa; JPMorgan Asset Management with its fund JPMorgan Funds Europe Sustainable Equity Fund; Nordea Investment Funds with Nordea 1 – European Stars Equity Fund; SEB Investment Management with the SEB Europe Equity Fund, and Swedbank Robur Fonder offering the fund Swedbank Robur Europafond.
Mats Sjöstrand, FTN chair, said: “We are pleased with the outcome. It gives pension savers access to high quality funds at a lower cost.”
The European equity funds tender, launched in July is the first the FTN has conducted since it was established in 2022.
Some SEK11bn (€960m) of premium pension savers’ assets currently invested in European equity category – via funds listed on the existing platform – will soon be allocated to these six funds.
Whereas the existing funds platform accepted all applicants meeting certain criteria, the FTN said that for pension savers, its procurement meant that all funds in the category had undergone extensive controls and were of high quality.
“At the same time, the average fee for the funds in the category has been reduced from 0.48% to 0.21%,” it said.
There are currently 28 funds in the European equity category listed on the premium pension fund marketplace, according to the Swedish Pension Authority (Pensionsmyndigheten) website. The FTN said that around 130,000 pension savers had holdings in funds affected by the procurement.
Of those funds on the existing list, those not among the six funds procured for the reformed platform today will be phased out from the fund platform after the decision has gained legal effect, according to the FTN.
