Sweden’s financial watchdog is warning that the sharp increase seen in transfers of occupational pension savings brings with it the risk that some pensions-switching may not be in savers’ best interests, and called providers in to discuss the problem.
The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen, FI) said more and more consumers were moving their occupational pension between different insurance and occupational pension companies, with the value of the capital being moved having increased significantly.
During the first quarter of 2024, it said, the value of the transferred capital amounted to SEK26bn (€2.2bn).
The Stockholm-based authority said: “There is a risk that the growing market for transfers of occupational pensions creates incentives to carry out transfers for reasons other than the insured getting a better pension.”
“At the same time, regulatory changes in Sweden and at EU level place high demands on the companies in the occupational pension market,” it said in a statement yesterday.
Around nine in 10 employed Swedes had an occupational pension, it said, many of whom had the opportunity to move their pension capital between different players in the insurance and occupational pension market.
Daniel Barr, FI director general, said: “The occupational pension exists so that the insured can have increased financial security after their working lives.
“The growing market for moving occupational pensions makes it important to gather industry players to talk about how we can create conditions that put the consumer’s needs at the centre.”
FI said it had invited representatives of the major players in the occupational pension market to a roundtable discussion, to take place at the authority’s office in Stockholm’s Brunnsgatan on 25 November.
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