Stockholm (NordSIP) – At the end of November, AP7 announced the results of a survey conducted together with Kantar Sifoon regarding the general public’s view of various aspects of their pension. The results show that a large majority of Swedes think that the AP Funds should take into account the environment and ethics in pension management. However, there seems to be no consensus on whether pension funds can influence companies on ESG issues with age as the main discernable cause of differences in opinions.
The Survey
When asked about it, 76% of the respondents agreed that the AP Funds should consider environmental and ethical factors in their investment decisions. 24% said the issues should be taken into account regardless of their effect, 18% argued that they should be considered if they led to higher pension savings and 35% said these considerations should be internalised so long as they did not lower pension savings.
However, respondents were very split on whether the pension funds were able to influence companies to adopt better ESG practices. The issues were simplified so that governance, social and environmental sustainability were captured by the ability of pension funds to combat corruption, improve working conditions and reduce climate impact.
About a third of respondents believe that pension funds can contribute and the greatest expectation is within social sustainability such as better working conditions. On the other hand, a third are doubtful about the possibility for the funds to contribute and around 10% do not believe that the capital can contribute at all.
AP7 Sues Activision and Microsoft
In other news, AP7 has sued video game company Activision, its board of directors and Microsoft in connection with Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision. The background is that the process surrounding the acquisition, as well as the bid and terms, has not been done correctly and has disadvantaged Activision’s shareholders, which includes AP7 and our savers.
