The Swedish Fund Selection Agency (FTN) has announced its award decisions in the procurement of European small-cap equity funds and Swedish small-cap equity funds for the premium pension fund platform.

Its procurement of actively managed European equity funds focusing on small-cap companies was awarded to four fund managers across four funds, with two new funds and two funds that have previously been available on the fund platform.

The new fund managers and funds in this category were Danske Investment Management A/S with its Danske Invest SICAV Europe Small Cap fund and J.P. Morgan Asset Management (Europe) S.à.r.l with its JPMorgan Funds - Europe Sustainable Small Cap Equity Fund.

The two previously available fund managers and funds that were procured again were SEB Funds AB with its SEB Europafond Småbolag fund and Swedbank Robur Fonder AB with its Swedbank Robur Small Cap Europe fund.

The procurement affects approximately 68,000 savers with total assets of SEK 5.5bn, with the average annual fees for funds in this category falling by over 19 per cent as around 99 per cent of savers had previously been invested in the two funds that remain.

Three funds in the category that have not been awarded a contract will, after a phase-out period, be deregistered from the fund platform.

Just over 700 savers held units in the three funds that will be removed and will be able to make a new choice of fund.

“The outcome of the procurement means lower fees and better possibilities for oversight,” said FTN chair, Mats Dillén.

“It will therefore contribute to the objective of higher and more secure pensions for savers.”

Meanwhile, FTN also procured actively managed Swedish small-cap equity funds.

Ten fund managers were awarded fund agreements for 10 funds, with five of the funds having already been available on the fund platform.

The newly procured fund managers and funds were Cicero Fonder with its Aktiespararna Småbolag Edge fund, Cliens Kapitalförvaltning AB with its Cliens Småbolag fund, Danske Investment Management A/S with its Danske Invest SICAV Sverige Småbolag Class SI fund, Nordea Funds Ltd with its Nordea Småbolagsfond Sverige fund, and SEB Funds AB with its SEB Sverigefond Småbolag fund.

Existing funds procured in this category were AMF Fonder AB’s AMF Aktiefond Småbolag fund, Carnegie Fonder’s D&G Småbolag fund, Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s Handelsbanken Svenska Småbolag fund, Lannebo Kapitalförvaltning AB’s Lannebo Småbolag fund, and Swedbank Robur Fonder AB’s Swedbank Robur Småbolagsfond Sverige fund.

Over 180,000 pension savers have holdings in the funds affected by the procurement, and the award decision means that approximately SEK 34bn of premium pension savers’ assets will be allocated to the procured funds.

The funds in the category that have not been allocated will after a phase out period be deregistered from the fund platform, with savers able to make a new fund choice.

“By procuring high-quality funds at low fees, there is a good opportunity for savers’ premium pensions to grow over time,” Dillén stated. “This creates the conditions for safer and higher pensions.”

FTN executive director, Erik Fransson, added: “Swedish small-cap equity funds have gone through a challenging period with low returns and large outflows, and questions have also been raised about their liquidity.

“However, we believe that these funds are well suited to long-term savings, that they have sufficient liquidity and that they complement the range on the premium pension fund platform in a good way.”

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