Performance Evaluation of Swedish Equity Mutual Funds

Abstract: This thesis aims to study differences in fund returns between actively and passively managed Swedish equity mutual funds, relating the performances of Sweden's four major retail banks to other actors over the period 01/31/2001 to 12/31/2015. Dividing the sample into large- and small/mid cap funds in evaluation and analysis, we find that actively managed funds on average yield negative alphas. For the large cap segment we also find, with statistical significance, that the average major retail bank fund is generating inferior alphas in comparison to other actors. The results found are similar to relevant studies regarding mutual fund performance, but make an explicit distinction in fund capitalization given different indices. Concluding upon our findings, we propose regulations of fund transparency relating to its performance and activeness, as well as fund distribution in general.