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Three Questions with Annabell Siem Mathiesen

AmCham News,

THREE QUESTIONS WITH

Annabell
Siem Mathiesen

CEO, Mercer Norge

COVID-19 has had a pronounced effect on businesses, regardless of industry, around the world. Each industry, however, has been met with unique challenges in relation to the pandemic – how has COVID-19 shaped the direct contribution (DC) landscape, particularly in regard to Egen pensjonskonto?

Pensions in Norway have been in a state of change for some time and the pandemic has further accelerated the potential impact of the changes. Going back almost ten years, the state pension reform put companies and employees in the private sector on a journey that completely changed the pension landscape. Today, more than 9 out of 10 employees in the private sector have a DC pension scheme where pensions can be directly affected by changes in the stock market.

Due to COVID-19 and its impact on the economy, financial security has been front of mind for employees and employers. Historically Norwegians have placed a lot of trust in the government and their employer to provide a sustainable pension but with the increased volatility in the market and the introduction of the Egen pensjonskonto / Own pension account in 2021, employees will need to take far greater personal responsibility over their pension and managing savings or face long-term financial risks. With the new regulations, individual employees can now choose a different manager for their pension portfolio than the one chosen by their employer. Depending on their situation, multiple options may lead to better or worse returns down the road so access to financial education and independent advice will be critical.  

Companies therefore now also have a responsibility to regularly review their DC plan design, maintain a robust governance framework and keep their employees informed on the realities of their pension, empowering them to select options based on sound investment advice. Mercer has been partnering with employers and their employees to establish sustainable DC governance and communication of benefits to safeguard their futures in these volatile times.

Mercer’s transformational investment report, done in collaboration with the Børge Brende-led World Economic Forum (WEF), identifies six global systemic risks – climate change, water security, geopolitical stability, technological shifts, demographic shifts, and low and negative real long-term interest rates. How will these risks affect Norwegian long-term investors in the coming decade?

The study is significant because it puts forth a practical framework for converting systemic risks into sustainable returns. ESG (Environmental Social and Governance criteria) and Responsible Investment is not just about doing good for society. By not taking responsibility, investors could be exposing themselves to greater risk, which could hurt them. It’s not enough to only exclude certain companies or industries from your investments. Transformational investment is about having a framework to monitor risks, identify opportunities and take an active role in shaping the future of business through investment choices.

There has been progress locally, for example, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM, Norway’s oil fund and government pension fund) is taking steps to analyze water risk. This could mean divesting from heavy industries, which are not mitigating the risk of water shortages. In many cases, investors need to move from being passive owners to active stakeholders. The risks also represent potential opportunities for investors and the study identifies a global investment gap of 6.27 trillion dollars.

Describe your dream vacation in the US. Where would you go and why?

I love a good American Pinot Noir so I can picture myself touring the wine districts of Oregon or California, driving a classic red Mustang convertible with the top down.

Rising Leaders 2020-21 Edition Commencement

AmCham News, Rising Leaders

Rising Leaders 2020-21 Edition Commencement

AmCham and the US Embassy recently welcomed 17 new and 10 continuing Rising Leaders to our ongoing program, officially commencing the 2020-21 season. The meeting was hosted at Hard Rock Cafe, in strict accordance with the latest COVID-19 regulations.

Rising Leaders come from a wide range of personal, professional, and academic backgrounds. Sixteen countries are represented amongst the participants – a group that includes student leaders, diplomatic staff, young professionals, and entrepreneurs.

The Charity Adventurer

Josh Stinton, known to many as “the Charity Adventurer” and holder of three athletic world records, began last week’s commencement meeting with an inspiring presentation on how he has taken on some of the world’s hardest challenges to raise awareness and resources for children’s charities around the world.

In particular, Stinton focused on the importance of finding one’s purpose or personal why. For Stinton, helping children has enabled him to both set world records and put failure and obstacles in perspective. He challenged Rising Leaders to ask themselves, “if your life story was a book, is it a book that you would want to read? You are the only one who can decide your own narrative.”

Josh encouraged participants to be resilient, follow through with bold plans, develop personally as well as professionally, offer creative solutions and to build a strong support network of people who can help them on their journey. “Simply put, you won’t do it alone. You have to get creative and build an all-star team.”

Norwegian stakeholders that we are a credible partner that shares key goals critical to the development of society,” he concluded.

Josh on the custom rig that he used to bike across the ocean, setting a world record in the process.

An Impressive Class!

The 2020-21 Rising Leader class — consisting of 17 women and 10 men between the ages of 23 and 35 — bring with them experience from healthcare, classical music, urban planning, organizational psychology, immigration, engineering, communications, technology, teaching, economics, finance, and marketing.

Over 20 organizations and AmCham member companies are represented within the class, including American College of Norway, BI, Cisco, Equinor, Hydro, PwC, US Embassy and Yara.

The 27 program participants have demonstrated leadership, entrepreneurial, and/or business excellence in their educational pursuits and careers thus far. Throughout the program, participants will engage business leaders, learn about AmCham member companies, and gain business and leadership skills.

For more information about the program, or to learn how your organization can get involved, please contact madeleine.brekke@amcham.no.

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Jakob Profile

UN FAO: Google and FAO launch new Big Data tool for all

Business News, Technology,

Anyone anywhere can access multidimensional maps and statistics showing key climate and environmental trends wherever they are, thanks to a new tool developed by Google and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Earth Map is an innovative and free-to-use Web-based tool to provide efficient, rapid, inexpensive and analytically cogent insights, drawn from satellites as well as FAO’s considerable wealth of agriculturally relevant data, with a few clicks on a computer. Earth Map has also been designed to empower and provide integrative synergies with the federated FAO’s Hand-in-Hand geospatial platform, a more comprehensive tool to provide Members, their partners and donors with the means to identify and execute highly-targeted rural development initiatives with multiple goals ranging from climate adaptation and mitigation to socio-economic resilience.

Its development follows the successful Collect Earth platform jointly developed with Google under FAO’s OpenForis suite of tools, which has already proven useful for forest assessments; land cover assessments and project design and implementation.

Read entire article here

Mentorship Midway Meeting 2020

AmCham News

Mentorship Midway Meeting 2020

“When working with competent colleagues, be prepared that their solutions will be different than what yours would have been. If it is done with ambition and inspiration within the frameworks, that is leadership.”

So declared guest leadership presenter Thomas Vogth-Eriksen, DNV GL’s Global Director of Certifications, during AmCham’s latest Mentorship Program gathering at Hotel Bristol. For the mid-point of the 2020 program, participants met in person – and in socially distanced fashion – to absorb leadership tips from Vogth-Eriksen, AbbVie Norway Country Lead Kirsti Nyhus, and one another.

Presenters

Thomas 1

Thomas Vogth-Eriksen – Global Director of Certifications

Kirsti Nyhus Picture

Kirsti Nyhus – Norway Country Lead

Focusing strongly on the importance of both career planning and communication with colleagues at varying levels, he highlighted the need for flexibility and personal challenges. As is unique to someone in Vogth-Eriksen’s position, he was able to provide insights into topics applicable to both program mentors and mentees as they navigate their careers.

The baton of career development was swiftly picked up by Nyhus, who is at the helm of a company regularly top-ranked as a Great Place to Work in Norway. 

“Of primary importance to our employees, and to us as employers, is pride in what we are doing, and where we are working,” she noted.

Contributing to that pride are AbbVie’s five elements of talent philosophy: Performance, Behaviors, Differentiation, Accountability and Transparency. Nyhus illustrated the importance and implementation of each element, demonstrating how such a strong focus on company culture and personal growth has yielded such positive results.

After both presentations, mentors and mentees discussed a range of related issues including family onboarding for overseas postings, volunteering for new and challenging tasks, and how to sort out communication challenges amongst team members. The discussions represented the very best of the AmCham Mentorship Program – a cross-industry arena in which enthusiastic professionals hone leadership skills through collaboration!

About the AmCham Mentorship Program

With its unique cross-industry orientation and global approach, the AmCham Mentorship Program offers a dynamic, internationally-minded arena for leadership development. The program, now in its fifth year, pairs emerging corporate talent with seasoned executives from AmCham Patron-level member companies. The result: a collaborative arena that fosters improvement and reflection, prepares young leaders for the challenges of the international marketplace, and forges bonds between AmCham member companies.
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“Expect the Unexpected” – C-SPAN Journalist and Presidential Debate Moderator Steve Scully Joins Nordic AmChams for a Special Election Update

AmCham News

“Expect the Unexpected” – C-SPAN Journalist and Presidential Debate Moderator Steve Scully Joins Nordic AmChams for a Special Election Update

In a dynamic US Election Series session, AmCham Norway and fellow Nordic AmChams hosted one of Washington’s most seasoned political journalists, C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, for an inside look at the upcoming presidential election.

Scully led off by letting attendees know that they should simply “expect the unexpected,” something the highly experienced newsman noted was informing his preparations for moderating the October 15 town hall format Biden-Trump debate.

Click here to watch a full video recording of the session

Throughout the AmCham session, Scully drew upon his three decades of experience covering US presidential elections, juxtaposing these insights with anecdotes from his own personal exchanges with President Trump and Vice President Biden. Chief among them was relying too much on polling, which Scully noted are snapshots of the race at an exact moment, often failing to capture the fluidity and dynamism of presidential elections in the 21st century.

A part of that dynamism is the “October surprise,” a topic Scully also touched upon. While there will no doubt be revelations within the next several weeks, Scully noted that “heightened levels of political polarization in the US – unlike anything witnessed in my three decades as political journalist – make it difficult to predict the effect such an event would have on the election.”

Scully rounded out the session by taking questions from attendees, providing unique, highly-informed takes on common election narratives found in the Nordic news media.

You can watch or re-watch the webinar with Steve Scully on a video recording (available soon!)

About the US Election Series

With the 2020 US elections only weeks away, AmCham Norway, in collaboration with our fellow Nordic AmChams and the US Embassy in Norway, continues our 2020 US Election Series. Featuring experts and commentators from diverse organizations such as Fox News, TV 2, Pew Research Center, C-SPAN, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the fact-based series is developed to enlighten and engage business and government leaders on a political process that impacts us all.

Other US Election Series Events

Reuters: Norway may have to tighten COVID-19 restrictions, PM says

AmCham News, , ,

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway is going to stop easing coronavirus curbs for the moment and could be forced to bring back tougher measures following a recent rise in the number of cases, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Thursday.

Norway went into lockdown in mid-March and quickly saw a sharp fall in new cases, then began a gradual easing of restrictions in May.

“The government is considering tighter measures,” Solberg told a news conference.

Read entire article here

Bloomberg: Citi Names Fraser as First Female CEO of Wall Street Bank

Accounting / Financial, Business News, , ,

Citigroup Inc. picked Jane Fraser as its next chief executive officer, placing the first woman atop a major Wall Street bank.

Fraser will succeed Mike Corbat, who is retiring in February after more than eight years in the top job. Fraser, who was named the company’s president last year in a move that marked her as the heir apparent, has run the bank’s consumer unit, private bank and Latin American operations in her 16-year tenure.

Corbat helped Citigroup shrink and return to consistent profitability after the behemoth almost collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis. Now, Fraser will be tasked with improving returns that trail industry leader JPMorgan Chase & Co. and using the bank’s global network in a world that’s seeing more nationalism and trade barriers.

Read entire article here

European Commission: Commission adopts proposals to make EU-US agreement on tariffs effective

Business News, Government, ,

The European Commission today published a proposal for a Council and European Parliament regulation to scrap duties on certain imports to the EU. In return, the United States will reduce its duties on certain EU exports to the U.S. market. This will put into effect the agreement announced by the EU and the U.S. on 21 August 2020. These tariff reductions between the EU and the U.S. will increase access to both EU and U.S. markets by around €200 million per year.

Read entire article here

Press Release: Equinor partners with BP in US offshore wind to capture value and create platform for growth

Business News, Energy, ,

Equinor (OSE: EQNR, NYSE: EQNR) has entered into an agreement with BP (LSE: BP, NYSE: BP) to sell 50% non-operated interests in the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind assets on the US east coast for a total consideration before adjustments of USD 1.1 billion. Through this transaction, the two companies are also establishing a strategic partnership for further growth within offshore wind in the US.

Currently Equinor holds a 100% interest in both the Empire Wind lease, located off the coast of New York State, and the Beacon Wind lease, located off the Massachusetts coast. The transaction is in line with Equinor’s renewable strategy to access attractive acreage early and at scale, mature projects, and capture value by de-risking high equity ownership positions.

Read entire press release here

DN: Tine Austvoll Jensen blir ny norgessjef i Google

Business News, Technology, ,

For én uke siden kunngjorde Discovery Norge at Tine Austvoll Jensen slutter som administrerende direktør for å bli toppsjef i et annet, hemmelig selskap. I en pressemelding torsdag morgen kommer det frem at Jensen tar over etter Jan Grønbech som ny norgessjef i Google.

– Som et digitalt foregangsland er Norge et spesielt marked, og det er med stor entusiasme jeg tar på meg denne nye rollen. Vi er inne i en helt spesiell tid, men jeg er optimist og tror sterkt at Google og selskapets teknologi kan spille en viktig rolle i å akselerere den økonomiske gjenoppbyggingen i Norge. Min første prioritet vil være å støtte Google Norges ansatte og kunder på alle måter jeg kan, og å hjelpe våre partnere i Norge med å få mest mulig ut av de digitale mulighetene. Jeg gleder meg veldig til å bruke tid på å bli kjent med alle mine nye kolleger og teammedlemmer i og utenfor Norge, sier Tine Austvoll Jensen i meldingen.

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