The Swedish government has launched a consultation aimed at making the procurement process of the Swedish Fund Selection Agency (FTN), which selects funds for savers to invest their premium pension in, more efficient.

Currently, if FTN’s procurement decisions are appealed, the selection is reviewed in a court process with a judge and three jury members. To streamline the system – and save both time and resources in an already urgent process – the government is now proposing a simplification of the process.

The change would mean that the court would sit with a single judge, as in other procurement cases.

Supporting its proposal, the government said that procurement cases are “often of an urgent nature” and it is therefore more efficient for the court to have a single judge with legal expertise. The amendment also ensures that procurement cases are treated in the same way as other procurement cases.

Commenting, Swedish Minister for Older People and Social Security, Anna Tenje, said: “FTN has started work on procuring funds. The result will be a fund market with high-quality funds and a wide range of choices for savers, as well as a safer and more secure fund market that prevents crime and welfare offences.

“It is important that this process is above all legally secure but also efficient. The government is therefore proposing to streamline the court process for the procurement of funds for the premium pension fund marketplace in order to save time and resources by removing unnecessary legal requirements.”

FTN was created following the Falcon Funds fraud scandal that shook the premium pension fund system and saw thousands of savers lose money on their pension savings, some of which has now been recuperated.

The organisation has already completed several tenders this year and recently set out its provisional procurement plan for 2025.

The consultation runs until 18 December 2024 and responses must be submitted to the Ministry of Social Affairs.

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