Swedish pension fund Alecta rejected most of the initial findings made by the country’s financial regulator in its probes over $3.2 billion in losses resulting from investment missteps.
The pension company is under investigation for its investments in three failed niche banks in the U.S., including Silicon Valley Bank, as well as a bet in Swedish property firm Heimstaden Bostad.
“In short, Alecta does not share most of the preliminary assessments,” it said in a heavily redacted response to the Financial Supervisory Authority dated Sept. 6 and obtained by Bloomberg News. The largely censored documents signed by Chief Executive Officer Peder Hasslev did not disclose the FSA’s preliminary findings, but in July a spokesperson said the probe had been moved to a sanction review.
Regarding a possible penalty fee, Alecta said in the remarks that it would like the FSA to “take into account that Alecta is a mutual occupational pension company owned by its insurance-policy holders and the insured.”
Earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported that prosecutors in Sweden had dropped two counts of possible bribery in a separate investigation around the fund’s stake in Heimstaden Bostad, though more than 10 counts remain, according to the country’s National Anti-Corruption Unit.
Alecta manages about $115 billion for a quarter of the country’s population.
