nbim ’ s equity and fixed income traders to decide on the details of purchases. they must decide when, where and how trades are to be made. such choices affect day - to - day asset management – also where indexes are tracked the closest. the organisation trades on over 250 exchanges and sees to settlement, valuation, custody and risk management. in 2019, we executed around 30 million equity trades, or an average of approximately 100 000 trades per day. this is more than all of oslo børs. trading runs full steam around the clock, despite large operational challenges owing to the covid - 19 pandemic and considerable market volatility. allocation divides the fund ’ s assets among asset classes and markets. as a part of this, a relatively substantial negative contribution to the fund ’ s return has come from our fixed income investments in emerging markets. our experience is that we have not been paid enough for the risk to which some of these markets are exposed. in 2019, the ministry of finance decided that fixed income securities in emerging markets would no longer be a part of the fund ’ s benchmark index. the covid - 19 year 2020 has been a peculiar one. when the pandemic spread in march, global exchanges fell sharply. since then they have recovered to a great extent, but there are considerable differences across sectors. the real estate sector has been particularly hard hit, along with some services. at the other end of the scale, we find the tech giants. the news of a vaccine breakthrough has generated renewed optimism in equity markets in recent weeks. in spite of the turbulence and large market movements, the overall value of the fund has held steady, also in usd terms. we have avoided large losses – in both absolute terms and relative to the benchmark index against which the fund is compared. but volatility has been high through the year, and it remains to be seen where we end up. one characteristic of developments over the past seven years has been the solid results from the more traditional part of our active management – security selection. as we see in the table, our external asset managers have performed particularly well. 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches in my view, these results are linked to the key words appearing in the title of today ’ s speech : responsible investment and active ownership. the fund ’ s size and long horizon are unique characteristics that have an impact on this part of asset management. i would therefore like to spend a little time going into

zero trust model, ” directing its supervised financial institutions to subject any access to their digital infrastructure to verification and security screening. the bsp has also embarked on cybersecurity campaigns, issuing advisories to warn the public on emerging cyberthreats and scams especially during this unprecedented health crisis the covid - 19 era has indeed changed the way we live, work, and play. it has challenged us to try things we have never done before or were afraid to do, to quickly adapt to changes, to take unprecedented moves, and to take a step toward a world of new possibilities. the digital transformation has indeed increased our resiliency. this brings to mind a japanese proverb about the bamboo tree : “ the bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists. ” in times like these, raw strength is important, but equally important is the ability to bend and adapt. digitalization is part of the new normal, and the rate and speed of how we get used to it 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches will determine our chances of bouncing back and standing tall and strong again. maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat! 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches