Norway Wealth Fund Hires a Sports Psychologist to Train Managers on Risk 

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(Bloomberg) -- Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, hired a sports psychologist who trains military pilots to make its managers more comfortable with taking risks.

The fund’s new Chief Executive Nicolai Tangen, who said he has worked with a sports psychologist for eight years, expects the move to boost returns by benefiting “mental strength and robustness” of the staff, according to an interview with local news service E24.no, published Friday.

Anders Meland has a PhD in sports psychology from the Norwegian Sports Academy, on top of military school education with the Nordic country’s armed forces, the news service said. He has several years of experience from working with top athletes and military pilots.

“It is not about the Petroleum Fund taking more risk,” Tangen, whose background also includes interrogation training with Norwegian intelligence service, is cited as saying. “It is about individuals feeling better about taking risk.” Working with a sports psychologist helped him gain the resilience needed to withstand the media storm surrounding his appointment, Tangen added.

The 54-year-old, who is running the fund since Sept. 1, clinched a last-minute deal in August to secure the job, giving up the hedge fund he founded -- AKO Capital LLP -- after parliament balked at the potential conflict of interest. The appointment drama resulted in months of scrutiny and criticism by Norwegian media, politicians and academics.

Read more: CEO of World’s Biggest Wealth Fund Reflects on Being Unpopular

The wealth manager said last week it is expanding the investor’s stocks team in the Norwegian capital to build on the equity portfolio management already done out of London and New York. The fund, which is due to publish key figures on Jan. 28, also said its 2020 results probably beat the benchmark index against which it measures its performance.