Norway’s NBIM Takes Top Spot as World’s Largest Asset Owner

Norway’s government pension fund has dethroned Japan’s as the biggest asset owner in the world.

On Friday, Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, which had been the world’s largest pension fund since 2002, announced Friday that it achieved a 22.67% return in the 2023 fiscal year. The fund’s assets grew to 245,982 trillion yen ($1.53 trillion) at the end of March, primarily boosted by foreign and domestic equities, which returned 40.06% and 41.41%, respectively.

Despite the fund’s strong returns, the GPIF was dethroned as the largest asset owner in the world: Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management, took the top spot with roughly $1.68 trillion in assets.

A weak yen, currently hovering near 38-year lows, is partially to blame for the decline of the value of the GPIF’s assets when measured in dollars.

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The GPIF’s foreign bonds returned 15.83% in the fiscal year, while domestic bonds returned negative 2%. The fund allocates a roughly 25% split to foreign and domestic stocks and bonds. The fund’s allocations to other asset classes are marginal, although the fund is exploring investing in new asset classes.

In March, the GPIF issued a request for information on asset classes such as gold, cryptocurrency and timber. In April, the GPIF announced an infrastructure investing partnership with Dutch pension fund APG.

NBIM reported a 6.3% return in the year’s first quarter, with its assets growing to 17.719 trillion kroner at the end of March ($1.68 trillion).

“Our equity investments had a very strong return in the first quarter, particularly driven by the tech sector,” said Trond Grande, deputy CEO of NBIM, in an April statement.

According to WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute, the top 3 largest asset owners at the end of 2022 were GPIF, NBIM and China Investment Corporation, according to the firms Asset Owner 100 index.