SWEDEN - Peter Norman, chief executive of the Swedish pension fund AP7, has been appointed the new chairman of Carnegie Investment bank following its takeover by the Swedish National Debt Office.

The Riksgälden has taken control of Carnegie Investment Bank and Max Matthiessen Holding AB after the Financial Supervisory Authority, the Finansinspektionen, revoked Carnegie's licence for taking "exceptional risks" in lending large amounts to one individual client.

Carnegie Investment Bank, previously a subsidiary of D. Carnegie & Co. AB, had already received a warning from the Finansinspektionen in 2007 over "serious deficiencies" in the governance and control of its operations. (See earlier IPE article: Carnegie faces losing its licence)

The Finansinspektionen decided to revoke Carnegie's bank and securities market licences after it took "exceptional risks" and failed to notify the authority of the credit it had granted, but following the takeover by the Swedish government it has converted the withdrawal to a warning.

The Swedish National Debt Office said its intention is to sell off the businesses of Carnegie and Max Matthiessen, although in the meantime it has appointed Peter Norman, chief executive of the Swedish pension fund AP7, as the new chairman of Carnegie's board, with a new board expected to be appointed at an extra shareholder meeting in the near future.

Elsewhere, the €140m pension fund of the Swedish local authority of Landstinget Gävleborg has confirmed it has appointed a new chief investment officer.

Velida Jahic, the former CIO at Gävleborg county council, left the role at the end of October to move to Nordea, and the council has confirmed responsibility for the local authority pension fund has passed to Bo Svedberg, the chief financial officer at the organisation.

The pension fund, valued at €140m at the end of September 2008, currently has 44% of its assets in equities, 29% in a fixed interest portfolio, 23% in alternative investments including hedge funds, private equity and real estate, while 4% is allocated to cash.

Svedberg revealed the target return of the fund is an annual real capital yield of 5%, but despite the recent market volatility and the scheme's relatively high exposure to alternatives, Svedberg confirmed, "no tactical reallocations have been made due to the financial crisis".

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