The Swedish pension fund caught up in the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank in March has decided to scale back its stock holdings in companies located outside the Nordic region.
(Bloomberg) — The Swedish pension fund caught up in the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank in March has decided to scale back its stock holdings in companies located outside the Nordic region.
The decision by Alecta follows a review into the group’s failed bets on three niche US lenders, SVB Financial Group, First Republic Bank and Signature Bank. The holdings triggered loses of nearly $2 billion, equivalent to roughly 2% of the fund’s total assets, and saw the then chief executive and equities boss ousted amid a public outcry in Sweden.
“Confidence in Alecta has been negatively affected by the losses in the American banks,” Alecta chairman Ingrid Bonde said in a statement on Friday.
Following the review, the Stockholm-based pension manager said it will continue to keep an active asset management strategy and expand its portfolio to more companies. The part of the portfolio that is dedicated to defined benefit pensions will also likely be complemented by a passive strategy.
“With these proposals for changes, we learn from the events in the spring, adapt the model to higher volumes and lay the foundation for continued high returns and adapted risk for our different categories of customers,” Bonde said.
The implementation of the new decisions will be carried out “over an extended period of time” as the asset manager is “a significant player in the capital markets and within the pension system,” according to the statement.
Alecta, which oversees the retirement savings of 2.6 million Swedes, has about 1.2 trillion kronor ($115 billion) under management, making it the country’s largest pension fund.
Read More: How Sweden’s Biggest Pension Fund Was Roiled by a US Bank Crisis
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