SWEDEN - Mats Odell, the minister for financial markets in Sweden, has promised to open all insurance-based pensions to free transfers between insurers, while Länsförsäkringar AB has a new chief executive.

An article published in the Swedish media quoted Odell as saying: "Many people are locked in for life in pension savings that they have little influence over and which they have no possibility of moving from, even if they are not satisfied with the service provided. I see there is growing consumer interest to ensure that we have a working competition on the pensions market."

Swedish pension savers today have the right to transfer savings in all new insurance-based pension plans. What Odell now intends to do is open the possibility of transferring the considerably larger amounts of money from old pension insurance plans; something he believes will take a change in the law to realise.
Elsewhere, Sten Dunér has been appointed as the new chief executive for Länsförsäkringar AB. He has been acting CEO since Håkan Danielsson left the position in October last year.

Dunér has worked at Länsförsäkringar since 1982, and held positions including chief finance officer and chief controller of the company.

Länsförsäkringar AB is the parent company of Länsförsäkringar Liv, one of Sweden's biggest mutually-owned life insurance companies.

These stories were first published by Pensionsnyheterna, a Swedish-language specialist news service, and translated in agreement with IPE.com.

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