EUROPE - Länsförsäkringar was the highest-ranking insurance company in the largest sustainability survey in Sweden to date, ranking 67th out of 100 companies including most sectors and industries.

KPA Pension came in 74th, followed by AMF (75), Folksam (81) and SPP at (99).

The ranking was based on web interviews with more than 3,000 people during the last quarter of 2010.

The list was topped by Coop and ICA, two supermarket chains, with Volvo, the car manufacturer, coming in third and IKEA, the furniture retailer, fifth.

In other news, Storebrand, the Norwegian pension and insurance provider, saw profits increase to NOK327m (€41m) in 2010 from NOK233m the year before.

Assets under management also increased to NOK407bn from NOK351bn the year before, while funds under management for external clients increased from NOK56bn to NOK71bn. 

The cost-to-income ratio fell from 65% to 57% during the year, and costs were cut by some NOK200m between 2009 and 2011.

According to Storebrand's annual report, the "combination of income increasing and cost-reducing measures" resulted in an operational improvement of more than NOK550m in 2010.

"Operations improvements will continue during the coming three-year period through simplification, coordination and further streamlining," it said.

SPP, the Swedish pensions arm of Storebrand, also saw assets under management increase to SEK141bn (€15.7bn) from SEK134bn.

However, profits fell by some SEK40m to SEK552bn.

AMF, a rival pension and insurance provider, saw assets under management increase to SEK372bn from SEK335bn and solvency ratio increase to 244% from 230%.

Profits fell year on year from SEK48.9bn to SEK31.5 due to technical provisions.

Lastly, a report commissioned by Collectum, the administrator of the Swedish second-pillar supplementary pension system for white-collar employees, shows that more than half (54%) of Swedes underestimate the effects that fund fees have on their final pension income.

Thirty-four percent of respondents said they did not know by how much a 1% fee would reduce their pensions capital.

Only 9% correctly determined that a 1% fee would reduce the pensions capital by SEK200, while 54% believed a 1% fee would reduce capital by SEK25,000-100,000. 

Only 3% overestimated the effect fees had on the capital.

Topics