The world’s most transparent fund
Norges Bank Investment Management manages the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global. The aim of the fund is to ensure the responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations of Norway. The fund is the largest single owner in the world’s stock markets, owning almost 1.5% of all shares in the world’s listed companies.
By Steffen Rufenach and Barbara Zäch with Marthe Skaar
In 2021, Norges Investment Bank made a bold commitment: you wanted to become the world’s most transparent investment fund. Why did you make this decision, and what business goals were you aiming to accomplish with it?
Managing the fund on behalf of the Norwegian people requires transparency, and ensuring knowledge of our work, mission, and core responsibilities is essential for building trust. The goal was fundamentally about maintaining public trust and legitimacy in managing Norway’s sovereign wealth. It was a bold ambition — intentionally so. We designed this strategic goal to challenge ourselves, evaluate all aspects of our communication, and rethink our approach.
From your perspective, what does being transparent actually look like in practice – what kinds of information, access and behaviours does it involve for Norges Investment Bank?
Our ambition has been to be open about all relevant matters to the extent this is compatible with sound execution of the management assignment. We aimed to increase people’s knowledge and understanding of the fund by communicating complex messages in a simple way. And then we committed to communicate frequently, proactively, clearly and timely. A big part of this was modernising our communication by using social media channels and more accessible and digital storytelling across channels.
Before you made this commitment, what did your external reporting and communication look like, and where did you see the biggest gaps or criticism from investors, media or the public?
We actually did not make this commitment due to criticism. We have for years had a focus on good reporting and being clear on what our expectations are towards the companies we are invested in. One big shift was in how we were perceived as we opened up. We used to have very few people that could present at conferences, so we changed our mindset and positioned our employees as important ambassadors and knowledge builders. We went from 30 speakers in 2021 to 150 speakers last year.
How did you operationalise this promise – what did you have to build, change, or stop doing to make transparency real in the organisation?
We took several concrete steps. First, we modernised our digital communication and social media presence. Second, we dramatically expanded our speaker programme – empowering employees across the organisation to represent NBIM publicly. And then we really changed internal communication to ensure good information flow and learning across teams and global offices.
A pivotal moment came when CEM Benchmarking launched their transparency index for the world’s largest funds. In the first year, we weren’t on top – the Canadians beat us. We made a commitment to climb to number one. This index measures objective transparency across four parameters: performance, costs, governance and responsible investing. We assembled a working group to learn from the best and had extensive leadership discussions about where we could increase transparency.
Where did you encounter the biggest challenges when you started implementing this transparency agenda – whether operationally, in governance, or in communications?
The biggest challenges were internal – we needed to agree on how far we could push transparency while maintaining sound execution of our mandate. But these challenges became opportunities. The discussions forced us to think deeply about our boundaries and rationale. In our strategy we committed to collaborate with and learn from main stakeholders and seek best practices from other leading institutions. We invested significant effort in being open about our work, and what we found was that people and organisations gave back – teaching us their best practices. Transparency became a two-way exercise. To be the best, you need to learn from the best.
What outcomes have you seen so far from this commitment, and how do you track or measure them?
We have a strong focus on high-quality data and have built a dashboard that is accessible to all employees across the firm. It provides granular data on external events, media coverage, podcasts, social media, website traffic, and internal communication. This allows us, for example, to see how we reach a broader international audience by involving employees from different markets, how we engage younger audiences through social media, and how a record-high 4 million people visited our website, nbim.no, last year.
Can you describe your communication rhythm – how regularly you provide updates – and how you balance the pressure to speak often with the need to say something meaningful and accurate?
The fund reports on a half-year basis – we stopped issuing quarterly reports in 2020 because, as a long-term investor, that rhythm made more sense. We continue to publish key figures quarterly on our website, while reserving deeper analysis for our semi-annual reports.
Beyond formal reporting, we communicate continuously through multiple channels and remain available to the media. We publish a three-year strategy plan with yearly progress updates. We make all consultation responses public. To ensure companies understand our position as an owner, we publish expectation documents and voting guidelines, and we share our voting intentions five days before AGMs where possible. When we vote against management, we explain why publicly – so companies and stakeholders understand how our position supports long-term value creation.
You have just re-committed to this goal in your latest strategy update earlier this year. Looking ahead, what are the next big steps you plan to take on transparency, and how will outsiders notice the difference?
We will continue to be the world’s most transparent fund, within the limitations imposed by the responsible implementation of our management mandate. We place particular emphasis on increasing knowledge among the fund’s owners — the Norwegian people — to support informed public debate. This means being clear about what the fund is, and what it is not. We also want to openly address the dilemmas we face. In an increasingly complex world, certain measures may be perceived differently by stakeholders in Norway and internationally. This requires communication that bridges differing expectations and builds credibility across audiences. In practice, outsiders will notice more direct engagement on complex topics, greater transparency around the trade-offs we face, and continued innovation in making information accessible to different target groups.
Many companies feel overwhelmed by new reporting regulations and experience transparency mainly as a compliance burden. Based on your experience, what would you recommend they do differently?
As an investor, good reporting on all relevant parameters is vital — because what is not measured cannot be properly assessed. For years, we have advocated for strong international reporting standards, as we want companies to follow a reasonably standardised framework while ensuring that the information reported remains relevant. Over the past year, we have also encouraged companies to move from quarterly to half-year reporting. However, this shift should be used as an opportunity to improve reporting quality and free up management time to focus more on strategy and driving the business forward.
Marthe Skaar
was appointed Chief Communications and External Relations Officer on 1 April 2023. She is responsible for the Communications and External Relations area and has strategic responsibility for all global communication activities.