AP3 CIO to Exit as Reform Looms | Chief Investment Officer

Kerim Kaskal, CIO, AP3The CIO of AP3, one of the buffer funds for Sweden’s national pension system, is to leave the fund at the end of October after two years in the role.

Kerim Kaskal has run AP3’s investment operations since October 2013, leading the SEK 288.3 billion ($34 billion) fund to a 13.7% return in 2014 after expenses. In a brief statement on its website, AP3 said he was leaving to set up his own fund management business.

Kaskal’s exit comes less than a year after the departure of Gustaf Hagerud as head of asset management, who joined London-based multi-asset boutique Kestrel Investment Partners in March.

The Swedish government is currently consulting on plans for an overhaul of the AP fund system, which consists of four large asset pools (AP1, AP2, AP3, and AP4) and a smaller, specialist private equity investor (AP6). The proposed new structure would see AP6 shut down and its assets rolled into one of the remaining funds. Another of the larger funds also faces closure.

AP3 has been the most vocal in its opposition to the planned changes, with CEO Kerstin Hessius there was “little to suggest this current proposal will lead to any improvement” and warned the changes “could jeopardize the great values of the pension system.”

In May, AP3 was nominated in the Public Pension Above €15 billion category at CIO Europe’s Innovation Awards.

Next month, AP1 CIO Mikael Angberg talks to CIO Europe about his fund’s award-winning governance structure and new investment processes. Sign up to receive the magazine now.