Skandia, the beleaguered Swedish financial services firm, saw operating profits fall by 46% to Skr 538m (€58m) in the six months to the end of June.

Hans-Erik Andersson, president and chief executive of Skandia, said: "We can ascertain that the steady intensification of competition in the market - especially the occupational pensions segment - along with negative attention surrounding the Skandia brand, has hurt our market position."