NORWAY - Norges Bank Investment Management, in the news over the disinvestment of Wal-Mart, looks to be boosting its corporate governance efforts with new staff.

NBIM, which runs the Government Pension Fund - Global, said on its web site that is looking to recruit various senior analysts and advisors covering environmental, social and ethical issues, to issues concerning networking and CG analytics.

"We are currently developing a broad set of tools for interacting with companies, regulatory agencies, governments, NGOs, and fellow investors," NBIM said.

"The aim of the corporate governance work at NBIM is to safeguard and build financial wealth for the future by actively engaging as thoughtful and serious equity owners, in line with the mandate and guidelines from the Norwegian Parliament and the Finance Ministry of Norway," NBIM added.

The move follows after the Government Pension Fund - Global has come under scrutiny for divesting its entire €321.7m stake in US giant retailer Wal-Mart, after the firm's alleged unethical discouragement of unions.

US ambassador to Norway Benson Whitney has accused the fund of arbitrarily and unfairly screening out the company.

NBIM has portfolios valued at more than $270bn and invested in international fixed income and equity markets. It also is responsible for the Foreign Exchange Reserves and the Government Petroleum Insurance Fund.

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