Finland’s FSA today announced it is ending the long period of close scrutiny of the pensions insurance company Elo, which followed concerns about the way it was being managed in the wake of a brief dip below its solvency floor at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FSA (FIN-FSA, Finanssivalvonta) said in a statement: “On 31 May 2022, the FIN-FSA decided that the authorised representative’s supervision of Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company will end on 30 June 2022.”

It said the supervision had been based on its decision on 11 December 2020 to appoint its representative, lawyer Pekka Jaatinen, to supervise Elo’s activities from 14 December 2020 until further notice.

Such action accorded with the FSA Act (878/2008), which provided for the authority to do this if there was evidence, for example, of “incompetence or carelessness in the management of the entity’s affairs,” it said.

“Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company has taken extensive and significant measures to develop its corporate governance,” said FIN-FSA, adding that it  considered the management of the company’s affairs to have improved now.

Elo’s chief executive officer Carl Pettersson, said Elo – which is one of four pension insurance companies in Finland’s earnings-related pension scheme – had implemented the measures required by the FSA to develop its corporate governance system.

“We implemented the last measures in March 2022. During the third and final stage of the monitoring in the spring, the FSA followed up on the measures taken and their effect,” he said, adding that the collaboration with Jaatinen had worked well.

“From this point on, we are all set to continue in stronger form towards Elo’s next strategy period,” the CEO said.

Jaatinen was brought in to keep an eye on Elo following months of intervention by the FSA which kicked off in March 2020, when the pension insurer’s solvency fell below the regulatory limit for one day during the international market crash triggered by the pandemic.

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Rachel is IPE's Nordic correspondent. She has long been a freelance writer, and over the years, has written for The Telegraph, The Independent, The Observer, AMWatch and elsewhere. In 2001, Rachel's personal finance book Kickstart Your Money was published by John Wiley & Sons.View full Profile

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