The Third Swedish National Pension Fund (AP3) has reported a return of -7 per cent, after expenses, in the first six months of 2022.

Its interim results revealed that this equates to a loss of SEK 35,347m. However, AP3 said the return still outperformed the LSP benchmark portfolio by 5.6 percentage points during the period.

Over the longer term, AP3 has generated an average annual return of 8.5 per cent over the last five years and 9.9 per cent over the last 10 years.

The annualised asset management cost ratio was 0.08 per cent, of which operating expenses totalled 0.05 per cent.

Fund capital was SEK 464,927m (SEK 502,287m at 31 Dec 2021), a decrease of SEK 37,360m. In total, SEK 2,013m was paid from fund capital to the Swedish Pensions Agency during the period to cover the difference between paid-in pension contributions and outgoing pensions and to meet pension system costs.

Commenting AP3 CEO, Kerstin Hessius, said: “The rapid reversal from 2021, which ended on a positive note, has been a bruising first half of the year on the financial markets, with both equities and bonds seeing negative returns. Given these circumstances, AP3 has achieved relatively good results, with a return of -7 per cent after costs.”

“This is my last year as CEO of AP3, and I’ll be passing over to Staffan Hansén in late autumn this year. It is with confidence that I hand over a professional organisation, with highly skilled employees and a strong portfolio that is well positioned to contribute to the pension system going forward.”

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