Avanza Launches Avanza Sweden: 99% of the Stockholm Stock Exchange at Low Fees

Swedish digital investment platform Avanza today launched Avanza Sweden, a new passively managed index fund giving savers exposure to more than 200 companies that account for 99 percent of the Stockholm Stock Exchange's market value. The fund carries a total fee of 0.17 percent, including a management fee of 0.15 percent, which Avanza says makes it one of the cheapest Sweden funds on the market, based on a comparison of passively managed Swedish equity funds on Morningstar.

Avanza Sweden is market-cap weighted, meaning holdings are sized in line with company value. It is designed for savers who want broad exposure to the Swedish equity market in one product. Unlike Avanza Zero, which tracks the 30 most traded stocks and charges no fee, the new fund also includes small- and mid-cap companies, adding a more diversified industry mix and performance closer to the overall Swedish market.

Maria Wärn, CEO of Avanza Fonder, said Avanza Zero gave investors a way to own Sweden's most traded companies at no cost. Wärn said Avanza Sweden builds on that idea by making it inexpensive to follow nearly the entire Stockholm exchange in a single fund, providing broader risk diversification, more companies and fuller exposure to the Swedish economy.

Existing Swedish funds

Avanza now offers four Swedish funds. Besides Avanza Sweden and Avanza Zero, the range includes Avanza Sweden All Cap, where no single holding may exceed 2 percent of the index at quarterly rebalancing, and Avanza Småbolag by Skoglund, an actively managed small-cap fund run by portfolio manager Fredrik Skoglund.

Avanza is a digital savings and investment platform founded in 1999. Its parent company, Avanza Bank Holding AB, is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Avanza says it has more than 2.3 million customers and over SEK 1,100 billion in total savings, corresponding to 8.3 percent of the Swedish savings market. It describes itself as the largest Swedish player on the Stockholm exchange including First North by number of transactions and turnover. The company has also won the Swedish Quality Index award for the most satisfied savers for 16 consecutive years. Avanza notes that investments involve risk and that savers may not get back the money they put in.