Opposition to high salaries at the top of large companies is growing if the work is not done in the best way, something that the ‘proxy advisors’ already do in our country, as is the case with Telefónica . The latest to show its opposition has been Norges Bank . The Norwegian State Global Pension Fund , which invests oil and gas revenues in international financial markets, has denounced “corporate greed” that prevails in many companies that offer high salaries to their executives for mediocre performance, publishes this Friday the Financial Times newspaper.

The American newspaper confirms that the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world has voted as a shareholder so far this year against proposed pay packages at Intel, Apple, IBM and GE. CEO Nicolai Tangen told the newspaper that they will continue to censure in particular large salaries that are not justified by the performance of the company in question or are opaque or without long-term vision.

“We’re in an inflationary environment, and we see a lot of fairly mediocre performing companies that maintain very large pay packages. Corporate greed is reaching an unseen level, and it’s really becoming very costly for shareholders when there’s a dilution” of their assets. actions, he declared.

“If shareholders are not stricter in voting, this will continue,” he warned. Tangen noted that while shareholders may not have quite done their job so far, he sees “a small shift” among big investors “towards greater scrutiny.” Still, he adds, “it’s clearly the fault of CEOs and boards.”

The oil fund, which, according to the newspaper, owns the equivalent of 1.5% of all listed companies in the world, voted against executive pay at Intel’s annual meeting this week and against Apple’s in March. He also voted against IBM for its disappointing performance; General Electric, for a complex salary plan that lacks transparency, and Harley-Davidson, considering that it was not justified to offer higher salaries than those of the competition.

Carine Smith Ihenacho, the fund’s governance director, said they have focused on the US for now because that’s where “the high pay packages” are, but the intention is also to look at the situation in Europe and elsewhere.

The fund clarifies that it is not opposed from the outset to high salaries and emoluments for managers, as evidenced by its support for the investment bank’s plansJPMorgan and Amazon , but wants compensation to be consistent with long-term management and business performance requirements.

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