Sweden in shock as pension giant Alecta loses $1bn following SVB collapse

Sweden-based pension giant Alecta has admitted it may lose more than $1 billion after the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the Signature financial institution.

The news that the £100 billion pension manager had invested billions in both institutions is sending shockwaves through Scandinavia's pension and investment sector.

Last night, the firm rushed to reassure its members.

“Alecta’s financial position remains very strong and solvency, i.e. the relationship between assets and future liabilities, is high, 203% as of March 10, 2023, after the value of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank is set to zero," the company said in a statement.

“Obviously with what’s happened last week we think that it’s a big failure for us as an investor,” CEO Magnus Billing told Bloomberg. 

“We need to learn something from that and take actions based upon the lessons learned.”

Holdings

Alecta reportedly started acquiring shares in the Silicon Valley Bank's parent company, SVB Financial, as well as Signature Bank as early as 2017. 

The firm continued to increase its stake, becoming SVB Financial's fourth-largest shareholder by the end of last year.

At the end of December, Alecta was reportedly also the sixth-largest shareholder in Signature Bank, which collapsed earlier this week, and the fifth-largest shareholder of First Republic Bank, which saw its stock nosedive by a staggering 70 per cent in recent days.