The proposed Centre Party leader Anna-Karin Hatt sat on the board of directors and finance committee of the pension company Alecta from 2016 to 2019.
During those years, the pension giant made several criticized investments that are now being investigated by the Financial Supervisory Authority.
Among other things, the company chose to invest 10 billion kronor in Heimstaden Bostad, which was first reported by the newspaper Affärsvärlden.
"During that time, I was involved in making a number of decisions aimed at strengthening Alecta's management of its customers' pension savings," writes Hatt in a comment to TT, stating that she has not been contacted by the Financial Supervisory Authority.
"To the extent that the Financial Supervisory Authority provides comments or recommendations that relate to how the work was conducted in the board of directors during the time I was a member, I will of course take them into account," she writes.
Chairman was forced out
Alecta has invested a total of 50 billion kronor in the housing giant, which faced significant financial problems as interest rates rose.
The investment is being investigated by the Financial Supervisory Authority, and in the autumn of 2023, Alecta's chairman of the board Ingrid Bonde was forced out after the criticized investments.
Recently, the Financial Supervisory Authority criticized the Pensions Agency for a similar investment in Heimstaden. According to the Financial Supervisory Authority, the Pensions Agency did not meet the legal requirement for risk control. This led to Daniel Barr, who was the head of the Pensions Agency at the time, being forced to leave his job as director-general of the Financial Supervisory Authority.
Alecta's current CEO Peder Hasslev, who started at the company in 2023, has according to Affärsvärlden on several occasions criticized the investment in Heimstaden, saying that there were deficiencies in both the decision-making basis and the investment process.
Too great a risk
Among other things, he believes that the shareholder agreement gives Alecta too little influence and that the pension company does not receive sufficient compensation for the risk it takes.
Similar criticism is directed by the Financial Supervisory Authority against the Pensions Agency's shareholder agreement with Heimstaden. In its report, the Financial Supervisory Authority writes that it has resulted in an increased risk that the invested money will be lost entirely or partially.
From 2016 onwards, Alecta also invested in the American banks Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, and Signature Bank.
When the three niche banks went bankrupt in the spring of 2023, Alecta lost nearly 20 billion kronor of pension savers' money. Alecta's then-CEO Magnus Billing was fired the same spring.
The board of directors was not directly involved in the bank investments, according to Alecta.
