The Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten) has said it largely agrees with the country’s financial watchdog in the initial conclusions of its probe into the authority’s ill-fated investment in Heimstaden Bostad, but disputes certain points made.
This is revealed in a letter the authority sent to Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen, FI) back in August, which was seen by Swedish insurance news service Sak & Liv.
The correspondence is part of the investigation process launched by FI on 1 February this year into the Swedish Pensions Agency’s investments in Heimstaden Bostad.
As well as the Swedish Pensions Agency, FI has also been investigating other major Swedish pension investors regarding their investment in Heimstaden Bostad – starting with a probe into Alecta beginning in September 2023, then launching similar probes into Folksam and KPA Pension at the same time as the pensions agency investigation.
On 30 September, it was revealed that FI had escalated its probe into the pensions agency to a sanction case.
A letter, seen by IPE, was sent to the agency by the watchdog dated 4 October, in which it says its preliminary assessment is that the Swedish Pensions Agency has violated the 2017 law governing the agency’s insurance operations in the premium pension system, and that it will now examine whether there is reason to intervene.
In an earlier letter, dated 22 August, from the agency to FI, in which it responds to a previous communication from the supervisory authority detailing facts and opinions relating to the case, the agency wrote: “The Pensions Agency largely agrees with the Financial Supervisory Authority’s observations.”
“In some cases we do not agree. This concerns sections of the letter where we believe that the information is not correct or that information is missing. We have responded to certain observations,” the agency wrote, according to an article by Sak & Liv.
IPE asked FI for the letter quoted by Sak & Liv, however the version IPE received appears to have been more heavily redacted than the version seen by Sak & Liv, with the above quote and other facts reported by Sak & Liv, having been partially blanked out.
According to the Swedish news service, the pension agency’s letter shows that it invested a total of SEK2.7bn (€237m) in Heimstaden Bostad equities, and that the value has now been written down to SEK2.3bn.
It also reveals, reportedly, that the agency engaged lawyers to analyse the shareholder agreement and a consultancy to carry out a due diligence around Heimstaden Bostad.
On top of this, it commissioned a report from an accountancy firm and conducted its own risk analysis, Sak & Liv reported.
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