Stockholm, 9 May 2025 – Each year, CFA Society Sweden honors outstanding contributions to the integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and sustainability considerations in the investment industry through the CFA Sweden ESG Award. The 2024 award was presented to Institutionella Ägares Förening (The Institutional Owners Association – IÄF) during the Society’s Annual Forecast Dinner on May 8 in Stockholm. Anna Magnusson, Chief Active Ownership Officer at Första AP-Fonden (AP1) and member of the board of IÄF attended the event to receive the prize on behalf of the association.
John Howchin, member of CFA Society Sweden’s ESG Committee and responsible for the Award’s nomination process, commented on the decision to honor IÄF: “The Institutional Owners Association has demonstrated clear and actionable leadership in integrating sustainability into financial decision-making. By uniting major Swedish institutional investors around a shared expectation that corporate boards link executive compensation to material sustainability goals, IÄF is advancing long-term value creation. Their insistence on relevance, transparency, and alignment between sustainability targets and financial performance sets a new standard for responsible ownership and corporate governance in Sweden. IÄF’s initiative serves as a model for how investors can drive positive change and promote sustainable development across the business sector.”
IÄF is a non-profit association founded in 2003 by major institutional investors in Sweden. Its purpose is to safeguard its members’ interests as institutional owners in the Swedish equity market by promoting the sound development of self-regulation within the market. IÄF fulfils this role primarily by participating in Sweden’s self-regulatory market bodies when appropriate, and by nominating or appointing representatives to boards and other governance functions.
The members of IÄF are Alecta, AFA, AMF, Första AP-fonden (AP1), Andra AP-fonden (AP2), Tredje AP-fonden (AP3), Fjärde AP-fonden (AP4), Carnegie Fonder, Folksam, Handelsbanken Fonder, Lannebo, Länsförsäkringar, Nordea Fonder, SEB Investment Management, Skandia and Swedbank Robur Fonder.
Previous recipients of the CFA Sweden ESG Award are:
- 2023 – Global Child Forum
- 2022 – ChemSec – the International Chemical Secretariat
- 2021 – Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute and Ulf Erlandsson
- 2018 – Norrsken Foundation
- 2017 – Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB)
- 2016 – Örebro Kommun and Region Västmanland
- 2015 – Steven Smit, Morningstar
- 2014 – Mats Andersson, AP4, Liza Jonson, Storebrand AM and Gunella Hahn, Svenska Kyrkan
- 2013 – Hennes & Mauritz AB
- 2012 – Peter Norman, Finansdepartementet
- 2011 – Gunilla Hjalmarsson, Meta AM. and Anna Nilsson, Swedbank Robur
- 2010 – Sasja Beslik, Nordea Investment Management
For media inquiries, please contact:
President: David Krook, CFA
Vice President: Alexandra Voss, CFA.
CFA Society Sweden: info@cfasweden.se
About CFA Society Sweden:
CFA Society Sweden is a not-for-profit organisation of investment professionals based in Sweden, founded in 2003. It aims to promote a high level of professionalism among its members and the broader investment community. The organisation has 165 members who are CFA Charterholders. A CFA Charterholder is a person who has successfully completed the CFA program, which is considered amongst the most challenging financial exams in the world. There are currently over 150,000 CFA Charterholders worldwide. The CFA program is administered by the CFA Institute.
About CFA Society Sweden’s ESG Committee:
The CFA Society Sweden’s ESG Committee is composed of engaged members of CFA Society Sweden who have a strong interest in the promotion of high-quality education and in supporting sound ESG standards in the analysis of financial investments. The ESG Committee is chaired by Simone Hirschvogl, CFA. The committee’s longest-standing member is John Howchin, former Secretary-General of the Council on Ethics for the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Swedish National Pension Funds. Currently, he oversees sector strategy for the work on the Transition Decade project with a focus on the hard-to-abate sectors at IIGCC and for the Climate Action100+ project, among many other engagements. Howchin is responsible for the ESG Award’s nomination process.
