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AEIP Annual Conference 2026: What Finland already knows about pension capital and growth

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AEIP Annual Conference 2026: What Finland already knows about pension capital and growth

What Finland already knows about pension capital and growth

AEIP Annual Conference 2026, Helsinki, 29 October

On 29 October 2026 Kinga spoke on the opening panel of the AEIP Annual Conference 2026. Työeläkevakuuttajat TELA ry hosted the conference at Keva’s auditorium in Helsinki. The audience was pension institutions, social partners and EU policymakers from across Europe.

Jaakko Kiander, CEO of Keva, opened the day with a picture of Finland’s largest pension provider:

  • €80 billion in assets
  • more than 1.3 million members
  • a 9% return so far this year
  • €14.2 billion, 18% of the portfolio, in private equity

Saara-Sofia Sirén, CEO of TELA, and Werner Schneider, President of AEIP, followed with introductory remarks.

Onno Steenbeek of APG Asset Management then set the frame with a keynote titled Unlocking Domestic Investment Opportunities: Aligning Public Goals with Pension Fund Realities. He made two points:

  • Pension funds should not accept lower returns for a public goal.
  • Defence now tests exclusion policies and member support. Some boards are being asked to explain why they do not invest in it.

Panel: Delivering the Savings and Investments Union: the role of pension funds in financing the EU real economy

The timing mattered. Six days earlier, the European Parliament is dropping the proposed 2% venture allocation for large pension funds from its IORP II position. The case for European growth capital now has to be made on returns.

What was said

  • Andrea Beltramello widened the debate to the whole financial system: how to bring more capital in and let it flow across integrated European markets.
  • Juho Aminoff set out the EIF’s next step. The ETCI 2.0 fund of funds is close to its first close. Its new range covers larger growth funds and smaller regional markets, including the Nordics.
  • Laura Wickström gave the allocator’s view. Finland has deep skills in defence, quantum and energy, and that drives her interest. She also said that, adjusted for risk, Finnish venture returns have so far only matched buyout, where the risk is lower.
  • The panel agreed on the conditions:
    • competitive risk-adjusted returns
    • stable regulation
    • integrated capital markets
    • gradual exposure through partnerships, since pension funds differ in resources and expertise

Kinga's points

  • Finland shows the way. TELA’s study puts Finnish earnings-related pension providers at roughly 20 to 30% of the funding for unlisted Finnish growth companies, equity and debt combined. That is over €3 billion, and TELA expects it to grow.
  • In venture, you buy the manager. There is no beta to buy. Average venture does not pay for its risk, and the top managers do. Laura’s point leads straight there. Selection and governance decide the outcome.
  • Europe is short of the second cheque. Companies start well here, then raise their large growth rounds elsewhere. Larger European growth funds, now backed through ETCI 2.0, are part of the answer.
  • Start small and alongside experienced peers. For most trustees, learning with others matters more than the size of the first allocation.
  • Security sits at the base of Maslow’s pyramid. Defence and dual use, long a taboo for pension boards, are now a question many boards have to answer.

Where this continues

This is the work of our Pensions and Growth Capital programme. Our 2025 report mapped where European pension capital sits today. The 2026 report, prepared with Investors for Purpose, launches in Brussels on 25 November, followed by London in December.

Pension funds with a story like Finland’s, or a question they want answered, are welcome to join us in Brussels or to book time with our team.

Read the AEIP summary of the panel on LinkedIn.

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