Issue 3, 2026

The Q3 2026 issue of Nordic Fund Selection Journal provides insight from the Nordic Fund Selection Awards over the past decade. This reveals a significant evolution in fund selection practices among Nordic institutional investors. Where once past performance and face-to-face judgments dominated decisions, today’s selectors integrate sustainability deeply into their due diligence, balancing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors alongside traditional financial analysis. They have responded to fee pressures by internalising mandates when appropriate, adopting a pragmatic stance on active versus passive management, and employing quantitative tools to complement qualitative insights. A key persistent theme is the emphasis on manager quality and culture, with selectors valuing stability, alignment of values, and transparency from asset managers.

Our emerging market equities roundtable reveal that Nordic investors and managers recognise current tech-driven market concentration, the resurgence of interest in EM allocations driven by factors such as a weaker dollar, and the importance of combining top-down macro insights with bottom-up stock selection. ESG integration remains central but pragmatic, and diversification extends beyond large markets to envelop a broad set of emerging economies.

The challenges of international fund distribution - highlighted in our roundtable - reflect the complexity of regulatory regimes, domicile selection (typically favouring Luxembourg or Ireland), and the necessity for persistent, focused engagement with clients worldwide.

This issue of the magazine also features a longer interview with Mikael Angberg, CIO of Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, selector insight from Tone Varmann, portfolio manager at Arctic AM and a longer feature on natural capital.