Swedes suffer triple whammy

SWeDeN’S pensioners suffered a triple whammy after a pension fund was caught up in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

Alecta, which manages around 2.6m pensions, had a stake worth around £577m in SVB last Tuesday before the bank was taken over by US regulators.

Officials then seized New York based Signature Bank in which Alecta held a 4.4pc stake recently worth around £248m.

The Swedish fund also has a 3.9pc stake worth around £677m in San Francisco- based regional bank First republic, which saw its shares more than halve yesterday as the SVB debacle sparked fears funds could be pulled from other banks.