EUROPE - Idar Kreutzer, chief executive at Norwegian financial group Storebrand, is stepping down to join Finance Norway, the trade body for the banking and finance industry.

He will leave his position on 1 June and be replaced by Odd Arild Grefstad, who will serve as acting chief executive.

He has worked at the company since 1992 and served as chief executive for the last 12 years. 

He will be available at Storebrand until he takes up his new position on 1 September.

Kreutzer said the financial sector was important for Norwegian consumers and businesses and that the sector faced "significant regulatory changes".

"Finance Norway plays an important role in these processes, and I look forward to working with important issues for the financial sector and the Norwegian society," he said.

Grefstad is currently managing director of Storebrand Life Insurance.

He has worked at the company since 1994 and served as CFO from 2002 to 2011.

In other news, only 7% of Swedes say they are 'relatively engaged' or 'very engaged' with the information they receive about their future pensions, according to a survey conducted by Collectum, administrator of ITP, the country's white-collar employee pension system.

Collectum said the 7% figure was 2 percentage points less than last year and a sharp decrease compared with 2010, when 43% said they were engaged with pensions information.

The number of survey respondents who acknowledged being wholly unengaged also jumped, from 49% in 2010 to 55%. 

However, according to another survey conducted by pension provider Alecta, few employers keep their employees informed about the amounts contributed to their occupational pension pots.

Alecta surveyed 580 human resources and company finance executives and found that the majority do not inform staff about contribution levels, even if they view pensions as an important benefit.

More than 80% of respondents said it was important employees knew how much the company contributed to their occupational pension, but only 10% said their payslips included such information.

Just over half (54%) said the information had been omitted from payslips because the issue had not come up, while nearly a quarter said their payment systems were unable to provide such information.

Two percent of respondents said their employees did not need to know about contribution levels.

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