The Fund is a governmental authority whose operations are regulated in the Swedish National Pension Funds Act (2000:192). The Government appoints all nine of the Fund's Board members, and the Ministry of Finance continually supervises and evaluates the Fund's operations.

• The Fund shall independently formulate its targets and strategies.
• The Fund's Board of Directors and operations are, by law, not to be controlled by Government directives or by national business or other economic policy interests.
• Environmental and ethical issues must be taken into account without compromising the goal of best possible return.

The Bufferfunds

The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4) is one of five buffer funds in the national pension system. The income pension system is a distribution system in which pension contributions paid in by the gainfully employed during the year are used to pay out pensions to pensioners the same year. The surpluses and deficits that arise when contributions deviate from disbursements are handled by the AP Funds, which is why they are often referred to as "buffer funds".