Skandia Liv Asset Management is continuing its bold move into US senior bank debt. The Swedish SKr253bn (e21.9bn) life company is hoping to take advantage of the aftermath of the credit crunch by investing in US bank loans and is also looking to expand the investments into Europe.

Norwegian pension company Vital Forsikring has put its plans to increase its alternative assets on hold. The firm, which managed to pull in positive returns in 2008, dramatically reduced its equities from 25 per cent to 3.8 per cent over the past year. More than 2 per cent of that is allocated to alternatives.

Nordic pension funds are continuing to plough money into emerging market equities despite the turbulence still affecting those economies.

Nordic hedge funds have returned to profitability for the first time since the spring of 2008.

Arkitekernas pensionskassa, the Swedish architects’ pension fund, is hoping to soon set up a joint administration company together with several other Swedish occupational pension funds.

Finansinspektionen, the Swedish financial supervisory authority has appointed Lars Frisell as chief economist. He currently works as deputy head of the financial stability department at Riksbanken, the Swedish central bank. Mr Frisell has previously been a researcher at Handelshögskolan in Stockholm and at the European Central Bank. Finansinspektionen has also appointed Per Håkansson as chief legal counsel. He joins from a position as chief lawyer at PPM, the Premium Pension Authority. Both Mr Frisell and Mr Håkansson will take on the positions during the spring.