Swedish pension majors join forces to fight corruption | New
The state pension buffer fund AP1 and other Swedish pension investors – including Folksam, SEB Investment Management and Skandia – have teamed up with the Swedish branch of Transparency International (TI) to form a new forum for pensions. investors to fight corruption.
Ossian Ekdahl, Responsible Property Manager at AP1, said: “AP1 has a long history of actively working to combat money laundering, financial crime and corruption in a variety of ways. We are now taking a new step in this important work.
AP1, which managed SEK 432 billion (€ 42.6 billion) at the end of June, said the newly created Investor Integrity Forum (IIF) would allow investors to pursue issues related to corruption risks, disseminate knowledge and promote transparency, integrity and accountability, thus creating better conditions for sustainable and profitable investments.
Other members of the new forum are the Swedish Church and the Swedish government development finance organization Swedfund.
TI Sweden said IFF members wanted to deepen the analysis and dialogue with companies that in various ways faced geographic or corporate cultural challenges that made transparent regulatory compliance difficult.
Emilie Westholm, Responsible Property Manager at Folksam, said: “The fight against corruption is one of the most important sustainability issues, because none of the other sustainability goals can be achieved if we don’t work on it. both transparency and openness. “
She said it was important for Folksam, one of Sweden’s largest providers of occupational pensions, to actively influence its holdings to prevent corruption, adding that cooperation with other investors creates a strong voice.
Ulrik Ã…shuvud, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TI Sweden, said the organization sees the forum as a unique opportunity to hone its business ethics work together with investors.
“Strong work against corruption is an investment in sustainability and creates better conditions for profitable investments,†he said.