The Swedish Fund Selection Agency (Fondtorgsnämnden, FTN) has just outlined plans for its next six procurements, seeking managers for an estimated SEK193.7bn (€17bn) in all, and saying the first two of those tenders should be launched at the end of this year – or the beginning of next.

Tenders for the investment categories of European equities index and global equities index will be the first, with those two being launched together, the FTN announced after a status meeting held digitally for asset managers and others yesterday.

There is currently SEK14bn and SEK40bn of premium pension savings allocated to these two categories, respectively, the agency said – providing an indication of the total mandate sizes.

Four more tenders will follow in 2024 – Nordic equities, global bonds, active Swedish equities, and passive Swedish equities, FTN said, adding that this list was in no particular order.

There is currently SEK19bn, SEK700m, SEK74bn and SEK46bn allocated to these categories. respectively, it said.

At the very end of June this year, the agency launched its inaugural tender – for management of around €11bn of actively-managed European equity funds – and that process closed at the beginning of October.

Which asset managers have won that opportunity to provide investment options in Sweden’s reformed first-pillar defined contribution premium pension system will be revealed at the end of the first quarter next year, the FTN said.

A fund specification draft for the procurement of global equities index has also been published today to inform fund managers about the upcoming index procurements, the agency said.

“Since the next two procurements are the first index categories to be procured to the premium pension fund platform, FTN also shares examples of the preliminary requirements on index funds and selected benchmarks, which are currently under evaluation and can be subject to change,” it said.

The FTN has said it aims to do around 30 procurements by the middle of 2025, creating a fresh and sparser list of approved providers to manage some SEK100bn of premium pensions money. Roughly the same amount again is managed by state-owned default provider AP7.

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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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