Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) is a separate branch of Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, and is responsible for managing the Government Pension Fund of Norway, which is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. NBIM also manages Norges Bank’s foreign exchange reserves. NBIM invests the fund’s assets and the foreign exchange reserves in international equities and fixed income instruments, money market instruments and derivatives. Here is their press release.
Simplifying the management of our investments in
Israel
NBIM,
Aug. 11, 2025
Norges Bank Investment Management has reduced the
number of Israeli companies it is invested in and brought all investments
inhouse.
The Ministry of Finance has requested Norges Bank to
review its implementation of the management mandate of the fund, its
investments in Israeli companies, and to propose new measures that it deems
necessary. We have initiated the review and are in close dialogue with the
Council on Ethics and have meetings with the Ministry of Finance. We will
formally respond to the Ministry’s letter as soon as possible and before the
deadline on 20 August.
At the end of the first half of the year, the fund was
invested in 61 Israeli companies. Of these, 11 companies were not in the equity
benchmark index of the Ministry.
Early last week, Norges Bank Investment Management
made the following decisions:
- All investments in Israeli companies that are not in the equity
benchmark index will be sold as soon as possible.
- All investments in Israeli companies that have been managed by
external managers will be moved inhouse and managed internally. We are terminating
contracts with external managers in Israel.
As a result, the fund’s investments in Israel will now
be limited to companies that are in the equity benchmark index. However, we
will not be invested in all Israeli companies in the index.
We have spent the recent days selling all our
investments in Israeli companies that are not in the equity benchmark index. We
have now completely sold out of these positions.
“These measures were taken in response to
extraordinary circumstances. The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian
crisis. We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and
conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. In response, we
will further strengthen our due diligence. The measures we are taking will
simplify the management of our investments in this market and reduce the number
of companies that we and the Council on Ethics monitor,” says Nicolai Tangen,
CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management.
We have long paid particular attention to companies
associated with war and conflict. We constantly monitor companies’ risk
management related to conflict zones and respect for human rights. In 2022, and
again in 2024, we strengthened our expectations toward companies operating in
war and conflict zones. Since 2020, we have been in contact with more than 60
companies to raise this issue. Of these, 39 dialogues were related to the West
Bank and Gaza. In the autumn of 2024, we further intensified the monitoring of
our investments in Israeli companies. As a result, we have sold our investments
in several Israeli companies.
We have also expanded our information-sharing with the
Council on Ethics on Israeli companies, in line with the ethical guidelines. To
date, based on recommendations from the Council on Ethics, 11 companies have
been excluded from the fund due to unacceptable risk of contribution to serious
norm violations associated with business operations in the West Bank.
Norges Bank Investment Management will hold a press
conference on August 12 at 08:00 CET to announce the fund’s half-year results
and provide more information about its Israeli investments. We refer all
questions about this press release to the press conference. The press conference will
be held in Norwegian.
