Swedish pension fund fires CEO after losses on SVB and Signature

The chief executive of Sweden’s largest private pension fund was fired on Tuesday after it took losses on investments in failed and struggling US banks including Silicon Valley Bank parent SVB Financial.

Report informs via foreign media that Magnus Billing was dismissed after Alecta took 19.6 billion Swedish krona ($1.9 billion) of losses not just on SVB but also Signature Bank and First Republic Bank FRC, +0.93%. In a statement, Alecta’s board said the ouster came after further discussions about the right way forward for Alecta and how trust can be restored.

According to FactSet, Alecta was the number-five investor in SVB, the number-six investor in Signature and the number-five investor in First Republic at the end of 2022. Alecta said it’s trying to understand how the situation arose.

Deputy CEO Katarina Thorslund was named acting CEO.