Norway's $960 billion sovereign wealth fund will ask the banks in which it has invested to disclose how their lending contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, its chief executive told Reuters on Friday.

The world's largest wealth fund, which is managed by Norges Bank Investment Management and invests in stocks, bonds and real estate outside Norway, has in the past measured the carbon footprint of its investments in equities and bonds.

"The third level is to look at the banks," Chief Executive Officer Yngve Slyngstad said. "What kind of loans do they have and how are their loan books specifically exposed to this issue? In practice that will mean the corporate loan books."

The financial industry is the biggest single sector in the fund, known as the Government Pension Fund Global, accounting for 23.8 percent of its equity portfolio.

Holdings include Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Barclays and Nordea, among others. In total it is invested in close to 9,000 companies worldwide.

"Going into project specifics I don't think is within the scope for us within the next few years. But the overall direction of their policies is something that we expect to come," Slyngstad said.

The fund, along with other investors such as BlackRock, is pushing companies to disclose both their carbon emissions and their plans to handle the risk of climate change.

The Norwegian fund sends its expectations on these issues to the boards of companies it has stakes in and holds meetings to ensure its views are heard.

"In 2017, we will have more than 4,000 company meetings. Last year, nearly half of the meetings raised the issue in the environmental, social and governance area," he said, adding that most meetings would be with CEOs and some with chairmen.

Britain is the fund's second-largest investment location after the United States, accounting for 9.1 percent of its portfolio at the end of 2016.

Slyngstad reiterated the fund would remain a long-term investor in the country after it leaves the European Union.

"I have a hard time seeing that any aspect of this whole Brexit discussion and the negotiations around it will affect our investments in the UK," he told Reuters at his office in Oslo.

The fund owns shares in most large British companies and holds $11 billion in British government bonds. It co-owns Regent Street, one of London's premier shopping areas.

"Because our starting point is that we invest relative to the size of the equity market and the size of the economies, it is the case for the UK, as it is for the rest of Europe."

The fund does not plan to change the weighting of its biggest country-holding, the United States, which accounted for a record 37.2 percent of its investments at the end of 2016.

"We are a long-term investor in the U.S. and our investments are aligned with the mandate of the (finance) ministry. There is no current plan in that direction (to change the weighting)," said Slyngstad.

In China, Slyngstad expected the majority of its investments to remain in equity markets.

"A very small proportion of it is in the bond market. So our exposure to the bond and currency markets is much lower. I think going forward this is our long-term strategy," he said.

Globally, its fixed-income holdings would continue to focus on four currencies: the U.S. dollar, sterling, yen and the euro. "That is the bulk of our holdings both on the corporate bond side but first of all on the corporate side. Government bonds may be more dispersed," he said.

The country's business leaders and economists criticised the government heavily for hiking the excise duty on bank deposits in the proposed budget for next fiscal year.

The increased excise duty would discourage people to use formal financial channels, said Nihad Kabir, president of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI).

The organisation claims the government always consults with the business leaders, but their proposals are not considered in the budget.

The observation came at a discussion on “Budget 2017-18: Instant Views of Business Community” held at La Vita Hall of Lakeshore Hotel in the cityyesterday.

In his proposed budget for fiscal 2017-18, Finance Minister AMA Muhith prescribed a 60 percent hike of excise duty on account balance between Tk 1 lakh and Tk 10 lakh -- a move that will leave some savers with even negative returns from their deposits.

The move drew huge criticism as the duty surged at the time when average interest rates on deposits came down at five percent and are mostly three to four percent.

“The increased excise duty on the bank accounts is unwarranted and is against the concept of financial inclusion,”Kabir observed.

She urged the government to revise the decision saying that such duty would discourage savings.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), termed the move a“secret attack” saying the increased excise duty would hurt the government's image.

He suggested that the government should not collect the tax at all.

He said the excise duty was imposed in 1991 and was supposed to be withdrawn then but continued anyhow. But now it was the time to reconsider such duty, he added.

However, he highly appreciated the government for introducing the new VAT law saying this is the only significant economic reform.

“It is a courageous decision the government has taken even before the election,”he noted.

Mohammed Farashuddin, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, said the increased excise duty had already drawn huge criticism and the government should withdraw it immediately.

He said the cost of doing business was very high, but the issue did not get attention in the budget.

Money is being laundered through mobile banking and the business community should give a proposal to the government as to how the issue can be resolved, he observed.

MA Mannan, state minister for Ministry of Finance, said the government gave some relief from excise duty in the new budget as it was on accounts with balance of Tk 20,000 but in the proposed budget accounts up to Tk 1 lakh was exempted.

He assured that the increased excise duty would be reconsidered as it was heavily opposed by the people.

However, Muhith in his post-budget press conference denied reconsidering the increased excise duty saying the people who keep Tk 1 lakh or more are rich.

“It is very difficult to give a definition of the rich. But I know the people who keep Tk 1 lakh or more into their bank accounts are capable of bearing the expenditure of the excise duty,” Muhith said at a post-budget press conference in the capital's Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Friday.

In the post-budget discussion the business leaders expressed their disappointment over the proposed budget.

All the business associations tabled their demands before the government, but those were hardly given any heed, said Kabir.

The MCCI is disappointed that no reform measures have been proposed for the much expected bond market, which could serve as a new source of borrowing for the government and the private sector.

There was no provision in the budget to bring discipline in the financial sector and the state-owned enterprises which was also disappointing, she said.

Syed Nasim Manzur, former president of MCCI, said job creation has declined, educated unemployment is the highest in Bangladesh compared to India and Pakistan, and investment situation is quite serious.

Amid this situation the proposed budget did not reflect the suggestions made by the business community, he said.

Zaidi Sattar, chairman of PRI, agreed that this was an “election budget” but it was useful to remind that all budgets formulated under the democratic system have an eye on elections.

He criticised the government for remaining silent on addressing the serious lack of governance in the banking sector.