​AMF Funds Approved For Swedens New-look DC System

Sweden’s third largest pension provider AMF has been given official approval to market 12 of its products on the Premium Pension System’s (PPM) funds platform – the third firm to get the green light since it was overhauled last year.

Of 13 funds AMF included in its application process for the PPM – the defined contribution section of its state pension system – one was rejected, the firm said.

The AMF Corporate Bond fund was only launched in the autumn of 2018, giving it too short a fund history to qualify, AMF said.

The PPM has now authorised three companies to offer a total of 20 funds on the PPM platform.

Lannebo Fonder was the first to have its products approved this year, getting the go-ahead for seven funds on 15 February, followed by HealthInvest Partners with approval for its small and micro-cap offering a week later.

Altogether, the Swedish Pensions Agency has received applications for inclusion on the platform from 70 companies representing 553 funds. A spokesman for the regulator said 269 funds were deregistered.

Jonas Eliasson, chief executive of the SEK590bn (€56bn) pension fund’s AMF Fonder division, said: “It is gratifying that our funds have been selected for the new fund marketplace by the Swedish Pensions Agency. We will continue to manage the funds in the best way and keep the fund fees low.”

The Swedish Pensions Agency introduced new rules for the PPM’s fund marketplace (fondtorget) in November, as the first step in a larger reform of the system. Private sector providers had to re-apply to continue offering their funds on the platform.

The overhaul of the PPM was triggered by a spate of scandals over the past few years involving poor behaviour by asset managers. Prior to the new rules, the platform had more than 800 fund management firms offering products.

Eliasson said AMF Fonder, which has been managing funds in the premium pension system since it began in the late 1990s, hoped the review and new requirements would lead to a safer funds marketplace.

“It is about people’s livelihoods as pensioners, which requires responsible players,” he said.