Fund manager to €280bn Norway scheme in major governance hires

Norges Bank Investment Management, the arm of the Norwegian central bank that runs the assets of the NOK2,385bn (€280bn) Government Pension Fund, is expanding its corporate governance team with a series of new hires. The planned appointments include a new head of core corporate governance issues to be based in Oslo within NBIM’s Ownership Strategies Department under Anne Kvam, NBIM’s corporate governance head. NBIM says it is “seeking to strengthen the team with a highly motivated and self-driven group leader to head up the team working with core corporate governance issues”. NBIM’s strategic focus areas for active ownership and corporate engagement include social and environmental issues in addition to core corporate governance and voting activities.The fund manager said the prospective candidate would need a “profound understanding of current issues relating to core corporate governance”. The manager is also hiring a senior analyst for core corporate governance issues and a senior analyst for environmental issues. In October, NBIM announced a major corporate global governance campaign which included challenging four major US companies to split their chairman and chief executive roles. It also threw its considerable weight in the UK stock market – as owner of £32bn worth of UK listed shares – behind moves to push all UK corporate directors to be re-elected every year, a tougher position than recommended by the recent draft Walker review on corporate governance by Sir David Walker, former chairman of Morgan Stanley.