Oslo Pensjonsforsikring (OPF) has put its chief investment officer in temporary charge after the municipal pension fund’s longstanding chief executive officer stepped down at the end of October.
The pension fund has also announced interim results, including a value-adjusted loss on customer funds of 3.4% for January to September after a 0.9% loss in the third quarter of the year alone.
The pension fund – Norway’s fourth largest and the country’s biggest self-managed municipal pension fund – said Åmund Lunde had resigned as CEO after almost 14 years in the position, ”in order to seek new opportunities outside the company”.
OPF said Lars Christian Haram, the pension fund’s CIO, had been appointed as the new interim CEO.
Jørund Vandvik, chair of the pension fund, said: “The board will take the opportunity to thank Åmund for the good results during the long period he has led the company, and wish him the best of luck in the future.”
The process to find a permanent successor to Lunde would start immediately, the pension fund said in the announcement on 25 October.
In a post on LinkedIn, Lunde said: “The attitude and competence of fantastic colleagues has resulted in the top position on customer barometers and a Norwegian record in returns.
“I’ve been able to pick up the phone from any retiree or loan customer who wanted to talk to me, because there have been so few,” said Lunde on the networking site a week ago, adding: “It’s been a privilege.”
He said he would stay at the company until the end of the year.
“After that, we’ll see what happens,” he said.
Announcing Q3 results, Haram said that looking at the situation in financial markets and the world, the pension fund was doing well.
“We have built up a buffer in the good times of recent years and that will do what is needed to get through the period we are in now,” he said.
The pension fund said solvency capital had increased to 457% at the end of September from 381% af the end of June, with assets under management standing at NOK123.9bn (€12.04bn) at the end of the third quarter.
“Based on the results so far this year, it looks like we have chosen the right strategy to get us through this period,” Haram said in the results statement released on 31 October.
The fact that interest rates were rising was good for OPF in the long run, he said.
“The pension money held by us has a guaranteed yield, and the fact that interest rates are now rising from the low level we have had since the financial crisis makes it easier for us to meet that guarantee,” he said.
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