Americans are ‘simply more hardworking’ than Europeans, says head of world’s biggest investment fund

Europeans are less ambitious than Americans and don’t work as hard as them, says Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest investment fund, reports Business Insider.

“There is a mentality about accepting mistakes and taking risks. In America you go bankrupt, you get another chance. In Europe you are dead. We are not very ambitious,” he said of the mindset of Europeans in an interview with The Financial Times.

“I should be careful when I talk about work-life balance, but Americans are simply more industrious,” he added.

Asked by FT reporters if he was worried about what would happen after the US election in November given that around half of the assets he manages are linked to US companies, he replied:

“We simply invest in America in great companies, for the long term. [Alegerile] they will have no implications for how we allocate our capital.”

“We have almost half of our assets in America, we will stay investing in America,” he emphasized.

However, in February he expressed concern about the backlash in the United States to promoting diversity goals in business and other areas.

The head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund says a diverse board is a good one

Asked at the time about the controversies at Harvard University, where its first black president resigned amid a racism scandal and allegations of plagiarism, Tangen said corporate America could be next. by those who oppose measures to promote diversity.

“There [în Statele Unite] something could happen, it could follow the evolution we’ve seen in terms of climate backlash,” he said. “It would be a negative development,” emphasized the Norwegian director.

Tangen said having a diverse board leads to better discussions and therefore better decisions.

“There’s a good reason you want diversity on boards, and if there’s a backlash against that development, that would be a negative development,” Tangen said.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund manages $1.6 trillion in assets around the world, equivalent to $281,000 for each Norwegian citizen.

Starting in 2021, the fund requires companies in which it is considering investing to have at least 30% of female directors and, in the case of developed economies, at least two women on the boards of directors. An exception is companies in Japan, which are required to have only one woman on the board.