SWEDEN – The premium pensions authority (PPM) is looking to sell its Ljusdal based call centre set up for Swedes to switch investment funds, following a dramatic drop-off in the numbers of investors moving their assets.

The call centre currently employs around 100 staff.

Hans Jacobsen, director general of the PPM, comments: “ The number of people was just about right to start with in the autumn when we had about 8,000 calls per day, but now we have no work for them because we are only getting around 500 calls per day.
“ We are looking to sell the Ljusdal centre to someone who has the same sorts of needs, like an insurance company.”

The PPM initially expected that around 15,000-20,000 Swedes a week would switch assets between funds.

The 4.4m scheme members have also lost around SEK10bn from the initial SEK55bn that was invested through the system at the end of last year. The loss is mainly due to pension savers picking equity funds that have lost cash in the current stock market decline.

The system will receive just under SEK20bn in the second week of April as the contributions from 1999 are going to be placed. In May, an estimated 490,000 new members will enter the scheme, bringing in a few billion crowns.