Review of the Swedish National Pension Funds

This paper provides a review of the Swedish National Pension Funds based on international good practice and OECD guidelines. The paper focuses mainly on the general size and structure of the funds, the investment framework and the governance of the funds. The internal management of the funds appears to be strong, with governance and risk management structures in place that appear to broadly follow OECD guidelines. The report concludes that the AP funds could benefit from having one clear and specific long-term investment objective, set by an independent committee answerable to Parliament, for all the AP funds against which their long-term performance can objectively be measured. The mandate and role of the AP6 fund could also be clarified. The report recommends the implementation of the prudent person rule as restrictive investment regulations are leaving the AP funds with less room to adopt varying investment strategies, and thus takes away some of the potential benefits of competition and diversification from having four different funds. Finally the selection process for the Governing Boards of the funds could be made more transparent and rigorous.