A review is underway by the manager of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund into a trip taken last year involving both its outgoing and incoming CEOs.
Norges Bank Investment Management, which runs the assets of the 10.4 trillion Norwegian kroner ($1 trillion) Government Pension Fund Global, Norway, will review CEO Yngve Slyngstad's travel for a Philadelphia conference in November "to make sure that it is in accordance with our guidelines," a spokeswoman said. The conference, "Back to University," was held at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
"This work is already ongoing," the spokeswoman added.
A translation of a notice published on the Norwegian central bank's website Monday said Mr. Slyngstad chose to travel from the conference — which was organized by incoming CEO Nicolai Tangen — with other conference participants on a chartered flight to Oslo from Pennsylvania. That flight was paid for by Mr. Tangen.
"It is the first time that Yngve Slyngstad has not traveled with a scheduled airplane covered by Norges Bank, and he himself says this was unfortunate," the translation said. While the sovereign wealth fund usually covers job-related travel costs, exceptions can be made in some instances. In this case, however, Norges Bank said it has subsequently decided to pay for these costs.
Norges Bank's supervisory council has said it will meet Tuesday to decide whether to hold a meeting to investigate "whether the executive board of the central bank followed the correct procedure in appointing Nicolai Tangen as new CEO of the fund," the NBIM spokeswoman added.
Mr. Tangen was announced as incoming CEO in March. He will replace Mr. Slyngstad in September.
"Yngve Slyngstad has not been involved in the hiring process in any way," the spokeswoman added.
Mr. Tangen is co-CEO and CIO of the $17 billion hedge fund firm AKO Capital.
Spokesmen for the central bank did not respond to requests for comment. AKO Capital declined to comment.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.
