Sweden's four state pension funds, together one of the biggest pools of investment capital in Europe, should be allowed to invest in a broader range of assets in order to cope with lower returns from investments in the next few years, according to the chief executive of one of the funds.

The four funds, which control assets of €100bn between them, all released their full year 2010 figures this week, with AP3 the last to do so this morning. All four funds made at least 9% on their money during the year, with AP2 recording the best result with 11.2%.