April 25 (Xinhua) Norwegian sovereign wealth fund CEO Nicolai Tangen recently said in an interview with the media that Europeans are not as diligent as Americans, but also less ambitious, face more regulation, and more risk-averse, and the gap between the United States and Europe will only widen.
The size is as high as 1.CryptothrillsnodepositbonusThe "helm" of the $.6tn of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund said it was worrying that US companies had outperformed their European competitors in terms of innovation and technology. This has also led to the fact that US stocks have far outperformed European stocks over the past decade.
"[Europe] has a mindset problem in accepting mistakes and risks. In the United States, you are bankrupt and have a chance to make a comeback. In Europe, you're screwed. "
There are also differences in "overall ambitions" between Europe and the US, he added. We (Europe) are not very ambitious. I will talk cautiously about work-life balance, but Americans will work harder. "
There is no doubt that Tangen's latest view has attracted a lot of attention. Because the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund is one of the largest single investors in the world, holding an average of 1% of every listed company in the world.Cryptothrillsnodepositbonus.5% of the shares and 2.5% of each European stock.
Over the past decade, Norwegian sovereign wealth funds have increased their holdings of US stocks, while European stocks have declined. Us stocks now account for almost half of their holdings, up from 32 per cent in 2013. UK shares, the largest European market, accounted for 15 per cent of its equity portfolio a decade ago, but last year it accounted for only 6 per cent.
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Asked if Norwegian sovereign wealth fund employees were worried about the outcome of this year's US presidential election, Tangen replied, "Yes".
He added, "but I probably shouldn't have said too much about it. We only make long-term investments in good companies in the United States. This will not have any impact on how we allocate capital. Nearly half of our assets are invested in the United StatesCryptothrillsnodepositbonusWe will continue to invest in the United States. "
It is worth mentioning that although the fund invests in about 9000 companies around the world, the big seven US stocks-Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla-account for about 12 per cent of their stock portfolios.
Tangen said that with the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, there is a saying that "the bigger the bigger, the winner takes all". In recent discussions with US chief executives, they complained about the difficulties of doing business in Europe because of strict regulations and red tape, he added.
"I am not saying that this is a good thing, but in the United States, there is a lot of artificial intelligence, but there is no regulation; in Europe, there is no artificial intelligence, but there is a lot of regulation. This is interesting. "
The Norwegian fund has also been taking an increasingly active stance on supporting ESG recently, fearing that the fund could be caught in the current wave of ESG rebound in the US. "you need to be very careful. You need to choose your fight. You have to be quiet about certain things. "
However, he also said the fund has a firm position on issues such as pay and women's rights on the board. He said the fund was becoming "the only company willing to express its views in these areas" as US investors faced scepticism and political pressure from clients and "we have a very socially conscious client base".