- The CEO of Norges Bank told the FT that he believes Americans work much harder than Europeans.
- Nicolai Tangen made this comment while explaining the push for sovereign funds to invest in the United States.
- About half of the $1.6 trillion oil fund's shares are currently invested in the United States.
Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway's $1.6 trillion oil fund, said Europeans are less ambitious and less hardworking than Americans.
“There's a mindset problem in terms of accepting mistakes and taking risks. In America, if you go bankrupt, you get a second chance. In Europe, you're dead,” Tangen said in an interview with the Financial Times published Wednesday. Told.
“We're not that ambitious,” Tangen added. “We have to be careful about talking about work-life balance, but Americans just work hard.”
Tangen made the remarks while outlining the company's commitment to investing in the United States, which currently accounts for half of the stake held by Norges Bank.
Norges Bank is responsible for Norway's sovereign wealth fund, which manages the proceeds from the country's vast oil and gas reserves and holds approximately $1.6 trillion in assets.
Tangen told the FT that his company is closely monitoring the 2024 US election and is concerned about the possible outcome, but did not provide further details.
“We're just investing in great American companies for the long term. It has no impact on the allocation of capital,” he said of the election, according to the FT. “We have nearly half of our assets in the United States. We will continue to invest in the United States.”
The CEO added that the reason U.S. stock prices outperform European ones is because U.S. companies innovate and grow faster than their European counterparts, calling the trend “alarming.” told the FT.
Approximately 71% of Norges Bank's holdings are stocks, with large stakes in US companies including Alphabet ($19.2 billion), Amazon ($17.4 billion) and Apple ($33 billion).
Norges Bank is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund and the largest single owner of global stock markets. The company has investments in 72 countries and is estimated to hold 1.5% of all stocks worldwide.
It's true that Americans work longer hours on average than Europeans, according to data collected by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development from 2019 to 2022.
The average U.S. worker surveyed said they worked 1,811 hours a year, or about 35 hours a week, compared to 1,571 hours a year for European Union workers. This also compares to the annual total average of 1,752 hours recorded by the OECD.
In the same survey, UK employees said they worked 1,532 hours a year, while German employees said they worked the least of any OECD country, averaging 1,341 hours a year, or about 26 hours a week. .
