Svein Gjedrem: Ethics and the Government Pension Fund – global Dinner speech by Mr Svein Gjedrem, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at the conference “Investing for the future”, Oslo, 16 January 2008. *  *  *  Minister, ladies and gentlemen, We are gathered here for a conference – and a dinner – centred on ethics. At this venue, it is obvious that no one will be cheated, and each will get his or her due. Clearly, no one should need to leave this place hungry, or unfairly treated. For that we are truly grateful. Norges Bank is proud, and fortunate, to be the manager of the global part of the Government Pension Fund. And we are proud that Norway has been one of the frontrunners in promoting the idea of ethical investment. Although the debate has broadened over the past few years, some criteria for the management of the Fund have been in place since the beginning: We must have leaders and employees who do their job in a morally impeccable way. We must also make sure that environmental sustainability and social issues are factored in, since they are crucial to future returns, and to the Fund’s legitimacy. And there should indeed be barriers against certain acts and investments, no matter how profitable, basically because ethical behaviour is a goal in itself. In addition to our job of managing the investments, we have been given the task of being active and engaged owners of our global stock portfolio.
1  2  Borio, C.: Monetary policy and financial stability: what role in prevention and recovery?, BIS Working paper No. 440, January 2014  BIS central bankers’ speeches