Swedish Competition Authority€s no to SPP ensures free competition

Swedish Competition Authority's no to SPP ensures free competition The Swedish Competition Authority today decided to not approve SPP's new surplus policy. Had the proposed surplus policy been approved, it would have entailed that SPP, with the help of previous years' profits from its monopoly business, would have distorted competition in the openly competitive segment of the retirement pension insurance market for many years ahead. According to the surplus policy, SPP's customers could only use allocated bonuses to purchase additional pension products - products exposed to competition as well as monopoly products - from the SPP Group. Lars-Eric Petersson, President and CEO of Skandia, comments: "The Swedish Competition Authority's professional handling of this matter sends good signals about the trend in the business climate in Sweden." Skandia's General Counsel, Jan-Mikael Bexhed, who has represented Skandia before the Swedish Competition Authority, says: "This is not primarily a success for Skandia. Nor is it only a success for all the privately employed salaried employees who can now obtain better pensions by not having to turn solely to SPP. This is primarily a victory for Sweden as a nation governed by the rule of law. Through the convergence of the Swedish legal system with that of the European Union, the time is now past when certain players could act outside of the rules that apply for others." For further information, please call: Jan-Mikael Bexhed, General Counsel, tel. +46-8-788 37 22, or +46-70-583 37 22 Birgitta Hammarström, Press Officer, tel. +46-8-788 2755, or +46-8-70-378 2755 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/12/07/19991207BIT00080/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/12/07/19991207BIT00080/bit0002.pdf