The Currency Trader
Name: Reidar Hamsund
Job: Portfolio Manager in the Wilhelmsen group, WWH
Previous job before Wilhelmsen: Chief Dealer, SEB
Works where: Lysaker, Wilhelmsen head office in Norway
Lives: Fornebu, Norway
It’s 1986. Top Gun is lighting up cinema screens, and a young Reidar Hamsund is inspired to pursue a career as a so-called FX currency trader. A year later, Wall Street the movie is released, with its famous tagline, “Money never sleeps.” Over time, Reidar came to understand the full weight of that phrase and made pivotal career decisions to prioritise balance in his life.
Wilhelmsen group parent company Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA (WWH) has a peculiar and niche department within it, called Treasury. Three colleagues make up the team whose sole responsibility is to grow WWH’s so-called liquidity portfolio every year, it’s cash.
The basics
People and companies can invest their money in wealth funds, with professional fund managers using deposited money to invest in various investment vehicles with the mandate and ambition to achieve financial return for everyone involved. With the Treasury department, WWH is basically putting some of its money (pun intended) on Reidar and his two colleagues managing the WWH cash better than external professionals can, and to beat the market.
“Our target is beating the market year after year, and we consistently do that”, says Reidar not showing a hint of bragging. A long career has built trust in solid procedures and patient methods. His expertise is nearly 40 years of FX currency trading and hedging, simply put buying and selling currencies in the foreign exchange market to make a profit. The foreign exchange market is often called forex or FX. “We also hedge currencies on behalf of other Wilhelmsen companies. They trade in dollars, and from time to time the dollar drops in value, and we prevent that currency loss with taking well-planned hedges”. Reidar builds buffers for rainy days.
Together with his manager and colleague, the three-person team covers bonds, stocks and currencies. Each of the three members are at the top of their game, having been with Wilhelmsen for a long time and proving their worth year after year. “My colleague Øyvind is the most knowledgeable stock investor I have ever met in my 39-year career”.
No sleep
Becoming any form of asset trader in the 80’s was a dream for young Reidar. He made the cut at a Norwegian bank, landing an attractive and sought after job, outcompeting many others in the process. Immediately tossed into a do or die community, Reidar kept on not dying, making a profit for the bank and its clients. One bank led to the next, led to Sweden, led to Singapore. His banking days included 14 years as Chief Dealer at the SEB bank – a title he dreamed of from the start.
The family moved around with two young boys in tow. “I can’t believe how such a lifestyle was even remotely family friendly at the time”. At least two nights a week Reidar was out partying with the colleagues and traders from other banks. Even for family men, this was the case. Had Netflix been invented, Reidar would have missed Squid Game altogether. “The guys you worked with were your closest and most trusted community, and one missed night out could jeopardise your job. If you came in after 8am the next day, you got a yellow card, two missed mornings were a red card”. That meant socially sidelined for three months, you couldn’t join for drinks. “A social downward spiral, a red card made you lose connections, camaraderie and profit opportunities”. Home at 3am, at work 8am. No exceptions.
Colleagues and inhouse traders from other time zones would call Chief Dealer Reidar in the middle of the night on weekdays. “Once you hung up, you instantly made your way to work and decided to take your loss or stay with the position”. Reidar experienced “Money never sleeps” first hand.
Thankfully the industry saw change. A more gender-balanced workforce helped, technology made many of the previously manual tasks not only be automated but vanish completely. Greater emphasis on work-life balance saw the old cowboy lifestyle cool down. “People still work insane hours and banks still obviously rely on making profits, but I believe being a trader or investor today is healthier than what I experienced”.
The details
Wilhelmsen sets a strict mandate on what and how Treasury can invest. Stocks, bonds and currency trades are all carefully assessed. Criteria is stricter for what’s in scope than even how the Norwegian government’s investment fund operates. ESG ratings, liquidity and scales weigh heavily. “Wilhelmsen trusts us to make good calls based on our mandate combined with careful analysis, industry knowledge, experience, and market insights”. Technology could do a lot of the work, much of what Reidar does could potentially be handled by a machine, except he hedges currency on behalf of Wilhelmsen Maritime Services meaning he needs to act against logic and be prepared to lose. So far, a machine can’t keep up with that line of thinking. “Our job is to grow the liquidity portfolio of WWH but given our expertise and especially my profile as a currency trader, I reduce or eliminate the risk of adverse currency exchange rate movements for those who need that help.”
When markets are good, typically when the US dollar is strong, for Maritime Services, hedging its portfolio loses money because it’s built-up as a buffer for a weaker US dollar. However, when markets are suboptimal for Maritime Services, Reidar comes in with the buffer which is now the gap closer, the ingredient that prevents a Maritime Services loss. “We secure 30-60% currency annually through options. If the US dollar drops in value, it means Maritime Services will have a higher cost base in currencies like Norwegian krone, Euro and Singapore dollars. With our hedging programme, we can set a more predictable currency rate, and the company now relies on this rate being its acceptable minimum and everything above is a plus”.
Balance
With five grandkids now, a deep desire to fish, hunt and sometimes play golf, Reidar is invested in his spare time. Alongside wife Helen, he is outside in nature most of the time, especially at their small and simple farm up north in Norway, teaching his grandkids to fish like his grandfather taught him. “Working at Wilhelmsen gave me a chance to perfectly position myself as a currency trader with a say on what trades to make, while having a fun and healthy spare time.” Moving to Wilhelmsen gave Reidar a chance to be on the buying side of the table, not just selling. Given the mandate Treasury has, the freedom to affect his trades and impact his work, Wilhelmsen was the perfect fit in 2011 when he joined.
The social aspect in Wilhelmsen is second to none for Reidar. At the banks, there was always a competition, make the most money, and make your own success. “At Wilhelmsen, that is fundamentally different. Banks made you afraid of losing your job every day. If a day was bad at work, you came home depressed, grumpy, and fishing was even more important for me then – to cool down. I couldn’t go home from work right away”. He credits his manager Thomas and colleague Øyvind for nurturing a win together and lose together fellowship, thinking as one team and one portfolio. They consistently win, but at an affordable price. The stresses of the bank’s ultra-competitive community are long gone.
Clients have stopped calling Reidar at 3am. Money can sleep if you let it.
Reidar trivia
YouTube – Fly fishing in New Zealand - Grouse hunting in Norway - New Zealand travel - Halibut fishing Norway - Warhaus (Belgian Band)
Reading – Macro research + global news
Listening to – Warhaus - Fred Eaglesmith - Pink floyd + lots of podcast on economics and US + Norwegian politics
Watching now – Norwegian reality - Killing Eve - Vikings Valhalla - Street Food Asia - Meat Eater (US docu hunting and fishing)
What is your favourite sound?
The sound of the sea. I love laying still, listening to the ocean beating against the shoreline. Then I am at peace.
What was the last thing you liked on social media?
New Zealand travel advice and fishing in northern Norway
Which moment or day in your life would you like to experience again?
The day I caught my biggest salmon, 13kgs on a flyrod in the Gaula River in Norway, or the 69kg tuna on Samoa! Of course, having kids was above all that. Haha.
If you could spend a day with someone from your past, who would it be?
My grandfather. He taught me to fish and was my great role model
What’s a book or movie that has changed your perspective?
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
He has fished the waters of Asia, Oceania and Europe, hunted in the mountains, had his feet on the table and smoked at the office while yelling buy and sell, moved his family across the world for work, been on call 24/7 for years. At Wilhelmsen he found balance. And Wilhelmsen found a top-level currency trader. Meet Reidar Hamsund.
Reidar and fellow trader at work in 1987. Current state of the art screens in the background.