Stockholm (NordSIP) – On Friday, December 6th, Olof Jonasson, head of equities at AP1, was let go shortly after the Swedish state pension found irregularities in his trading activity.
According to AP1, “the equities manager violated the Fund’s policy and guidelines on three occasions. These actions were a violation of the regulations on conflicts of interest, the policy for trading and holding in financial instruments and the ethics and values policy. As a consequence, Olof has left the fund.”
Jonasson became AP1’s head of equities at the end of 2014. He joined AP1 as a Portfolio Manager for industrials, energy and materials in 2002 and worked in that function for 12 years. Prior to that, he was head of Research for Nordic Industrial at Handelsbanken Capital Markets.
Following the departure of Jonasson, the equities department will be led by Mats Larsson.
What’s Wrong at AP1?
The discovery of Jonasson’s violations follows the dismissal of Johan Magnusson from his post as CEO at the start of September for similar reasons. In the Spring of this year, Magnusson had privately participated in a transaction of which AP1 was an anchor investor.
“The management has zero-tolerance on these issues, if you break the internal regulations it has consequences,” Teresa Isele, acting CEO of Första AP-fonden, commented. “It is important that the Fund’s Board of Directors and employees act in such a way that does not undermine the public’s confidence in Första AP-fonden and the pension system as a whole. We cannot have a leader who acts this way. Our leaders must set a good example and ensure compliance with the Fund’s values, policies and applicable rules.”
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