Alecta has moved a step closer to having a permanent chairperson in place after Magnus Hall, the former chief executive officer of Vattenfall, received approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority as a suitable candidate to head the SEK1.33trn (€119bn) institution’s board.
Sweden’s biggest pension fund, which suffered a crisis of confidence two years ago after huge losses on US niche bank investments and residential firm Heimstaden Bostad, has been struggling since October 2023 to secure a permanent replacement for Ingrid Bonde after she resigned amid criticism about her role regarding the investment failures.
The occupational pensions provider announced late yesterday afternoon: “Alecta has received the decision from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority that Magnus Hall has been approved in the leadership approval process as chair of the board of Alecta.”
A spokesman for Alecta told IPE that Hall would now be nominated and elected, and that this would happen during the spring.
If elected, Hall would take over from Jan-Olof Jacke, Alecta’s deputy chair who became temporary chair following Bonde’s resignation.
Since then, Alecta made two failed attempts to appoint a permanent chair. Its supervisory board (Överstyrelse) proposed the former Danish Central Bank governor Lars Rohde at the end of January 2024, but days later the idea was dropped with the firm saying Rohde had failed to tell them he was already up for a board job at a competitor.
Carina Åkerström was immediately proposed as chair instead of Rohde, and subsequently installed in the role, however she left less than a week later following reports that the former Handelsbanken chief faced a potential conflict of interest.
In April, Alecta reshuffled the board, but kept Jacke in place as temporary chair.
Hall was CEO of European energy firm Vattenfall for six years until the summer of 2020, and has also been CEO of Swedish forestry company Holmen.
His current roles include that of chair of forestry cooperative Södra Skogsägarna and of Swedish metal powders manufacturer Höganäs.
He was previously a board member of pension fund AMF, chair of the Swedish Association for Generally Accepted Principles in the Securities Market (Föreningen för god sed på värdepappersmarknaden) and vice president of The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA).
Read the digital edition of IPE’s latest magazine
No comments yet