14 February 2024
Even a simple spreadsheet error can have major consequences:
Norway's $1.5tn sovereign wealth fund revealed that it had lost NKr980mn, roughly $92mn, on an error relating to how it calculated its mandated benchmark.
It is a good example of how even tiny operational mistakes can have mammoth-sized consequences in nominal terms when you manage one of the world's biggest pools of capital.
...Patrick du Plessis, the global head of risk monitoring at NBIM, told the anthropologist that he felt "physically ill" when he was told about it. Which is pretty understandable.
Financial Times, 9 February 2024
Good spreadsheet practices could have eliminated this error, or at least minimized its impact.
Full article: The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund's $92mn Excel error
