Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) has again defended its appointment of Nicolai Tangen as its CEO amid fresh criticism during a parliamentary hearing.

Tangen is due to take the position from September but has faced opposition over conflict of interest concerns due to his previous ownership of UK asset management company, AKO Capital.

During the recent hearing, Norges Bank Supervisory Board chair, Julie Brodtkorb, said that there had been “a breach of guidelines, regulations and laws” in Tangen’s appointment.

"While we agree that measures have been taken to reduce the potential for conflicts of interest, such risks have not been eliminated," she added.

Brodtkorb said the appointment process may have been in breach of the Central Bank Act, which stipulates that NBIM must inform the government of “matters of importance”.

The Norweigan Ministry of Finance was not initially informed that Tangen would continue to own AKO Capital while leading NBIM and did not put his name on the applicants list until just a few days before his appointment was announced.

NBIM governor, Øystein Olsen, admitted that the firm waited “too long” to put Tangen on the public applicant list but defended Tangen’s appointment.

“In Nicolai Tangen's case, the Supervisory Board has been clear that the risk of conflicts of interest must be eliminated,” said Olsen. “I understand that the Supervisory Board, as the supervisory body, wants to remove risk.

“At the same time, I would like to emphasise that any responsible board for a company must make discretionary trade-offs between different types of risk and consideration for the company's purpose.

“With the agreement that has now been established, the Executive Board believes that we have prevented possible conflicts of interest. The risk that Tangen's ownership interests will come into conflict with his management tasks in NBIM has been eliminated for all practical purposes.”

Tangen’s 43 per cent stake in AKO Capital has been placed into a blind trust and Olsen said that Tangen is now just a passive investor in the asset management firm.

“In a thorough process to find a new leader of NBIM, Nicolai Tangen emerged as by far the strongest candidate,” continued Olsen.

“Nothing has emerged in recent months that has changed our assessment. Norges Bank's Executive Board and I have full confidence that Nicolai Tangen will carry out his task in a way that will provide the organisation with valuable expertise and strengthen the management of our common funds.”

Despite the measures put in place to appease the Supervisory Board, Brodtkorb stated that they were “not sufficient, given the ethical regulations that exist”.

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