A Swedish Insurer Widens Its CIO's Remit: How to Map Who Has Worked With Him Before

When an institution widens a senior investor's role, it often changes who has the authority to say yes. On 1 October 2026 it was reported that PRI Pensionsgaranti, the Stockholm-based mutual insurance company, has made Michael Timm its chief investment officer and head of credit and asset management, effective in September. He had been chief investment and sustainability officer since joining in May 2022. A wider remit for the person already in the seat is a signal worth acting on, and his career record gives a concrete map of where to look for a warm path.

What changed, and why it matters to a GP

PRI Pensionsgaranti is an insurer in Europe, and its assets were not stated in the report, so we cannot size a ticket from this news. What the new title shows is that credit and asset management now sit under the same executive as the investment function overall. For a credit or real assets manager, that means one conversation can cover both the strategy and how it would be managed, which shortens the path from first meeting to decision. For a manager in another asset class, the change tells you who now owns the investment budget.

Step 1: Read the career as a list of institutions, not a list of titles

Timm's record is public. He worked at Nordea from 2018 to 2022, first as chief investment strategist for Nordea Life and Pension and later as chief expert in capital management. Before that he spent a decade, from 2008 to 2018, at SPP Pension and Försäkring, starting as a senior investment manager and becoming chief investment officer in 2016. At SPP he also served on the board of a property subsidiary, SPP Fastigheter, and later chaired it. Earlier roles were as a quantitative analyst at Handelsbanken and AFA Försäkring. Each of those names is a network: former colleagues, external managers they hired, and consultants who sat across the table.

Step 2: List the managers each institution used

Next, ask which of your co-investors, prior LPs and peer managers dealt with those institutions during his years there. A manager that sold into SPP's property subsidiary, or ran an insurance-linked mandate for Nordea Life and Pension, has a direct line to a person who worked alongside Timm. That is closer than a generic introduction. Our look at how co-investors become the warmest route to fund LPs sets out how to ask for it.

Step 3: Check your own network against the list

Search your investor relations records, your advisory board and your own team's earlier employers for the same names. A former colleague who worked at Nordea or Handelsbanken in the same years is a better route than a cold approach. If you already have a relationship with another Nordic insurer, ask whether the contact knows the PRI Pensionsgaranti team. When you find a link, write down what the person can say about you from direct experience, not just that they know the name.

Step 4: Time the approach to the change

A newly widened remit is a natural moment for an introduction, because the executive may be reviewing priorities. Give the new title a few weeks to settle, then ask your contact for a brief introduction that names the specific topic: credit strategy, a mandate structure or a co-investment. Keep the ask small, such as a 20-minute call, and attach a one-page summary. Our guide to following LP staff moves explains how to track such moves, and our recent piece on mapping a new Singapore CIO's old Abu Dhabi relationships shows the same method on a different career.

Step 5: Be clear about what you do not know

The report gives no figure for PRI Pensionsgaranti's assets or its credit allocation, and it does not say whether the mandate has changed. Do not claim knowledge you lack in your first note. Ask what the team is currently looking at and let them define the opening. A European insurer also looks at capital treatment, rating and liquidity before return, as we saw when Suva set out its first CLO purchases, so prepare a version of your materials that leads with those.

Common mistakes

The most common mistake is treating a title change as a mandate change. Another is introducing yourself through the wrong period of the CIO's career, such as a contact from a role he left a decade ago, who may no longer have any current standing. A third is asking for a meeting without a clear reason. Each step above is meant to give your contact something specific to say on your behalf.

What to watch next

Watch for the next announcements on PRI Pensionsgaranti's credit team and for any change in its public investment priorities. FundLinx members can see which insurers have changed their investment leadership this quarter.

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