Norges Bank Supervisory Board with strong criticism of the Tangen process – VG

They are also critical that the Norges Bank Board of Directors has not been more accurate in its ethics formulations about the drain on oil fund manager Yngve Slyngstads touring the United States.

Norges Bank’s supervisory body, the Supervisory Board, met on Monday morning to discuss the employment of Nicolai Tangen. On March 26, it was made public that he had hijacked the core job at Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the Petroleum Fund of around NOK 10 billion.

– Very unfortunate

In the letter, the Supervisory Board writes that they believe it is very unfortunate that not all conflicts of interest between the Tang economy and the role of the NBIM CEO have been cleared up before employment. They write this in a letter to the Norges Bank Executive Board.

“It is very unfortunate that, on the one hand, Tangen is said to have severed all ties to the AKO system, at the same time that evidence from the Tangen Bar Association shows that he remains the primary owner and has voice control. at AKO Capital, “they write.

The Supervisory Board asks the Executive Council to obtain complete documentation on Tang’s personal affairs.

“Furthermore, the Supervisory Board believes that it is important that Norges Bank have a complete overview of all the co-investors in AKO funds,” the letter states.

The Supervisory Board believes that Tangen should have been included in the list of public applicants previously, and states in the letter that Norges Bank violated the guidelines in the recruitment process:

– One of the purposes of the Norges Bank Recruitment Guidelines is that “all recruitments must be open and real and contribute to diversity”. Based on the procedure in this case, the Supervisory Board believes that the guidelines have not been followed, the Supervisory Board writes in the letter.

This is unclear

The Supervisory Board, chaired by Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s former secretary of state, Julie Brodtkorb (H), promises three issues that they believe are unclear in the letter to the central bank administration:

• It should be established that Tang’s personal property interests, business activities and other commitments do not become a burden on the Petroleum Fund and / or the Norges Bank.
• Fiscal conditions in Norway and internationally must be in line with the official views and policies of the Norwegian Petroleum Fund and Norway, and are characterized by full transparency.
• The employment relationship will be governed by the same framework that applies to all employees, both managers and employees, at Norges Bank.

They also criticize evaluations of Yngve Slyngstad’s trip to the United States, at Tang’s expense:

“When it comes to cost coverage for Slyngstad’s participation in the seminar, the Supervisory Board believes that, for reasons of clarity for all employees, the Board of Directors should clarify more clearly whether this violates Norges’ ethical rules. Bank “.

A unanimous Board of Representatives is behind the comments.

read also

Nicolai Tangen’s Story: From Student Debt to Billions of Assets

– Heavy and difficult case

Manager Julie Brodtkorb says it has been difficult.

– This has been a difficult and difficult matter, but it is a unanimous 15-member board of representatives, from Frp to SV, who supports the document.

– Are you writing that it is very unfortunate that Tang has not broken all ties?

– We request the Executive Board to take our assessments in the final paper on Tang’s employment contract when they discuss the matter in late May.

– It seems that there are very strong criticisms?

– Our task is not to promote criticism. Our job is to monitor Norges Bank’s operations, ask questions and make recommendations, Brodtkorb tells VG.

Brodtkorp said this after the Supervisory Board meeting on April 22:

Towards tax havens

Norges Bank has come under fire for its descriptions of tax havens. The Supervisory Board deepens this criticism. They write that the problems of tax havens range from “legal but aggressive tax adaptation to secrecy and money laundering.”

– The Supervisory Board believes that these are matters that the Executive Board should clarify, even if the ownership of companies registered in tax havens is fully compatible with the requirement of transparency, they write in the letter.

Tang’s fund, Ako Capital, and its foundation have been registered in the tax havens of the Cayman Islands and Jersey. In addition, part of its wealth has been invested in funds registered in various tax havens.

The Petroleum Fund has its own transparency and tax expectations document, where they write that taxes must be paid where values ​​are created.

Requires full transparency

The Supervisory Board is critical that the system they have presented so far, for the firewall that Tangen will build, does not appear to be good enough:

Forceps will not personally receive interest, dividends or other financial returns on investments in proprietary companies in the AKO system, provided they are the managing director of NBIM (the Petroleum Fund). But he will resume ownership when he finishes as Manager of the Petroleum Fund.

“Therefore, Tang will have interests in the AKO system as long as he is employed as the general manager of NBIM,” they write.

The Supervisory Board strongly suggests that Norges Bank’s Executive Board has not done a good enough verification job.

They refer to the response from Norges Bank chief Øystein Olsen in the previous round, referring to a February 20, 2020 report by Tangen’s attorney, Taylor Wessing.

Provides an overview of Tang’s personal economy and
business partners. They write:

“The Supervisory Board believes that the Executive Council, as the basis for additional work on the employment contract, terms for joining the position, etc., should obtain full documentation on the CEO of NBIM’s personal business operations.”

Here Sting sings for the participants in the Nicolai Tangen seminar in the USA. USA:

Critical questions

In late April, the Supervisory Board of Norges Bank, which is the bank’s supervisory body, asked central bank governor Øystein Olsen to answer 26 questions about Tangen’s appointment as the new head of the Petroleum Fund. They specifically asked for details about the disputed American seminar organized by Tangen last fall.

The Norges Bank Executive Board replied that it was correct to hire businessman Nicolai Tangen as oil funds manager after Yngve Slyngstad. In his statement, it was stated that there will be no Tangen agreement until May 27.

The Supervisory Board is appointed by the Storting, made up of 15 politically appointed members, and chaired by Julie Brodtkorb, former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H).