News items

In recent times, the crisis concerning Ukraine has escalated into a war. Russia has invaded Ukraine from a number of locations, and this has already resulted in many victims. The pension fund is deeply concerned about this situation and its thoughts are with the people of Ukraine.

In addition to major humanitarian ramifications, the conflict in Ukraine is having an economic impact. A number of countries and companies have imposed sanctions and developments follow each other in rapid succession. The exact consequences for the economy and financial markets cannot be predicted at present.

A very small part of the pension fund’s portfolio (less than 0.03%) is in Russian and Ukrainian investments. This means that the direct impact on the portfolio is small.

There are currently huge fluctuations in the financial market, which also indirectly affects the pension fund's investments. We are now seeing this translated in the fall in prices on the stock markets. The fund is continuously monitoring these developments.

What action is the pension fund taking?

The pension fund works with a long-term strategic investment policy. We have structured our investment portfolio to withstand various stress situations in the financial markets.

For SPF, it’s not only important that our members can enjoy a good retirement. We also want them to be able to do that in a world that is livable for everyone. We underpin this ambition with our sustainability policy.

As far as possible within the investment portfolio, SPF excludes companies and countries based on the risk of negative impact and conflict with our own norms and values.

We therefore exclude the following companies and countries:

• Companies that produce, sell, or distribute cluster bombs.
• Companies that produce, maintain, or trade in controversial and/or nuclear weapons.
• Companies that are guilty of serious and structural violations of the UN Global Compact Principles.
• State bonds of countries subject to specific EU or UN sanctions, including Russia.

The fund is closely following developments in Ukraine, and the Board will soon consider how to deal with this in a responsible manner. The sanctions being introduced from one side onto the other and vice versa, as well as the market situation, also play an important role.

For more information about our investment policy and what we as SPF invest in, please visit Investment policy on the SPF website.