Sovereign wealth fund

A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity fund or hedge funds. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. Most SWFs are funded by revenues from commodity exports or from foreign-exchange reserves held by the central bank.

Some sovereign wealth funds may be held by a central bank, which accumulates the funds in the course of its management of a nation's banking system; this type of fund is usually of major economic and fiscal importance. Other sovereign wealth funds are simply the state savings that are invested by various entities for investment return, and that may not have a significant role in fiscal management.

The accumulated funds may have their origin in, or may represent, foreign currency deposits, gold, special drawing rights (SDRs) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve positions held by central banks and monetary authorities, along with other national assets such as pension investments, oil funds, or other industrial and financial holdings. These are assets of the sovereign nations that are typically held in domestic and different reserve currencies (such as the dollar, euro, pound, and yen). Such investment management entities may be set up as official investment companies, state pension funds, or sovereign funds, among others.

There have been attempts to distinguish funds held by sovereign entities from foreign-exchange reserves held by central banks. Sovereign wealth funds can be characterized as maximizing long-term return, with foreign exchange reserves serving short-term "currency stabilization", and liquidity management. Many central banks in recent years possess reserves massively in excess of needs for liquidity or foreign exchange management. Moreover, it is widely believed most have diversified hugely into assets other than short-term, highly liquid monetary ones, though almost no data is publicly available to back up this assertion.

History

The term "sovereign wealth fund" was first used in 2005 by Andrew Rozanov in an article entitled, "Who holds the wealth of nations?" in the Central Banking Journal. The previous edition of the journal described the shift from traditional reserve management to sovereign wealth management; subsequently the term gained widespread use as the spending power of global officialdom has rocketed upward.

China's sovereign wealth funds entered global markets in 2007. Since then, their scale and scope have expanded significantly.

SWFs were the first institutions to use sovereign capital in an effort to contain the financial damage in the early stages of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. SWFs are able to react quickly in such circumstances because unlike regulators, SWFs actively participate in the market.

SWFs grew rapidly between 2008 and 2021, with global assets under management by these funds increasing from approximately $4 trillion to more than $10 trillion.

SWFs invest in a variety of asset classes such as stocks, bonds, real estate, private equity and hedge funds. Many sovereign funds are directly investing in institutional real estate. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute's transaction database around US$9.26 billion in direct sovereign wealth fund transactions were recorded in institutional real estate for the last half of 2012. In the first half of 2014, global sovereign wealth fund direct deals amounted to $50.02 billion according to the SWFI.

Early SWFs

Sovereign wealth funds have existed for more than a century, but since 2000, the number of sovereign wealth funds has increased dramatically. The first SWFs were non-federal U.S. state funds established in the mid-19th century to fund specific public services. The U.S. state of Texas was thus the first to establish such a scheme, to fund public education. The Permanent School Fund (PSF) was created in 1854 to benefit primary and secondary schools, with the Permanent University Fund (PUF) following in 1876 to benefit universities. The PUF was endowed with public lands, the ownership of which the state retained by terms of the 1845 annexation treaty between the Republic of Texas and the United States. While the PSF was first funded by an appropriation from the state legislature, it also received public lands at the same time that the PUF was created. The first SWF established for a sovereign state is the Kuwait Investment Authority, a commodity SWF created in 1953 from oil revenues before Kuwait gained independence from the United Kingdom. As of July 2023, Kuwait's Sovereign Wealth Fund, or locally known as Ajyal Fund, is now worth $853 billion.

Another early registered SWFs is the Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund of Kiribati. Created in 1956, when the British administration of the Gilbert Islands in Micronesia put a levy on the export of phosphates used in fertilizer, the fund has since then grown to $520 million.

Nature and purpose

$1 billion sovereign wealth fund initial investment
15% compounding interest annually

Dividend payments of 1.5% on initial $1B investment
$26.7 billion in total dividend payments over 40 years.
Dividends were not reinvested and can be used as revenue for the government.

SWFs are typically created when governments have budgetary surpluses and have little or no international debt. It is not always possible or desirable to hold this excess liquidity as money or to channel it into immediate consumption. This is especially the case when a nation depends on raw material exports like oil, copper or diamonds. In such countries, the main reason for creating a SWF is because of the properties of resource revenue: high volatility of resource prices, unpredictability of extraction, and exhaustibility of resources.

SWFs are primarily commodity-based and many have been established by oil-rich states. SWFs of China are a notable exception to this more typical model.

Stabilization SWFs are created to reduce the volatility of government revenues, to counter the boom-bust cycles' adverse effect on government spending and the national economy.

Savings SWFs build up savings for future generations. One such fund is the Government Pension Fund of Norway. It is believed that SWFs in resource-rich countries can help avoid resource curse, but the literature on this question is controversial. Governments may be able to spend the money immediately, but risk causing the economy to overheat, e.g., in Hugo Chávez's Venezuela or Shah-era Iran. In such circumstances, saving money to spend during a period of low inflation is often desirable.

Other reasons for creating SWFs may be economic, or strategic, such as war chests for uncertain times. For example, the Kuwait Investment Authority during the Gulf War managed excess reserves above the level needed for currency reserves (although many central banks do that now). The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Temasek Holdings, or Mubadala are partially the expression of a desire to bolster their countries' standing as an international financial centre. The Korea Investment Corporation has since been similarly managed. Sovereign wealth funds invest in all types of companies and assets, including startups like Xiaomi and renewable energy companies like Bloom Energy.

According to a 2014 study, SWFs are not created for reasons related to reserve accumulation and commodity-export specialization. Rather, the diffusion of SWF can best be understood as a fad whereby certain governments consider it fashionable to create SWFs and are influenced by what their peers are doing.

As market participants, SWFs influence other institutional investors, who may see investments made alongside SWFs as inherently safer. This effect can be seen with increasing frequency, especially with regard to investments made by the Government Pension Fund of Norway, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Temasek Holdings, and China Investment Corporation. SLFs help facilitate a state's ability to use its selective equity investments to promote its industrial policies and strategic interests.

Concerns about SWFs

The growth of sovereign wealth funds is attracting close attention because:

• As this asset pool continues to expand in size and importance, so does its potential impact on various asset markets.
• Some countries, like the United States, which passed the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007, worry that foreign investment by SWFs raises national security concerns because the purpose of the investment might be to secure control of strategically important industries for political rather than financial gain.
• Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers has argued that the U.S. could potentially lose control of assets to wealthier foreign funds whose emergence "shake[s] [the] capitalist logic". These concerns have led the European Union (EU) to reconsider whether to allow its members to use "golden shares" to block certain foreign acquisitions. This strategy has largely been excluded as a viable option by the EU, for fear it would give rise to a resurgence in international protectionism. In the United States, these concerns are addressed by the Exon–Florio Amendment to the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-418, § 5021, 102 Stat. 1107, 1426 (codified as amended at 50 U.S.C. app. § 2170 (2000)), as administered by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
• Their inadequate transparency is a concern for investors and regulators: for example, size and source of funds, investment goals, internal checks and balances, disclosure of relationships, and holdings in private equity funds.
• SWFs are not nearly as homogeneous as central banks or public pension funds.
• A lack of transparency and hence an increase in risk to the financial system, perhaps becoming the "new hedge funds".

The governments of SWFs commit to follow certain rules:

• Accumulation rule (what portion of revenue can be spent/saved)
• Withdraw rule (when the Government can withdraw from the fund)
• Investment (where revenue can be invested in foreign or domestic assets)

Governmental interest in 2008

• On 5 March 2008, a joint sub-committee of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to discuss the role of "Foreign Government Investment in the U.S. Economy and Financial Sector". The hearing was attended by representatives of the U.S. Department of Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve Board, Norway's Ministry of Finance, Singapore's Temasek Holdings, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
• On 20 August 2008, Germany approved a law that requires parliamentary approval for foreign investments that endanger national interests. Specifically, it affects acquisitions of more than 25% of a German company's voting shares by non-European investors—but the economics minister Michael Glos has pledged that investment reviews would be "extremely rare". The legislation is loosely modeled on a similar one by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investments. Sovereign wealth funds are also increasing their spending. In fact, the Qatar wealth fund plans to spend $35 billion in the US in the next five years.

Santiago Principles

Further information: Santiago Principles

A number of transparency indices sprang up before the Santiago Principles, some more stringent than others. To address these concerns, some of the world's main SWFs came together in a summit in Santiago, Chile, on 2–3 September 2008. Under the leadership of the IMF, they formed a temporary International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds. This working group then drafted the 24 Santiago Principles, to set out a common global set of international standards regarding transparency, independence, and accountability in the way that SWFs operate. These were published after being presented to the IMF International Monetary Financial Committee on 11 October 2008. They also considered a standing committee to represent them, and so a new organisation, the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) was set up to maintain the new standards going forward and represent them in international policy debates.

As of 2016, 30 funds have formally signed up to the Principles, representing collectively 80% of the assets managed by sovereign funds globally or US$5.5 trillion.

Size of SWFs

Assets under management of SWFs amounted to $7.94 trillion as of 24 December 2020.

Countries with SWFs funded by oil and gas exports, totaled $5.4 trillion as of 2020. Non-commodity SWFs are typically funded by transfer of assets from official foreign exchange reserves, and in some cases from government budget surpluses and privatization revenues. Middle Eastern and Asian countries account for 77% of all SWFs.

Depletion of SWFs

Numerous SWFs have gone bust throughout history. The most notable ones have been Algeria's FRR, Brazil's FSB, Ecuador's numerous SWF arrangements, Papua New Guinea's MRSF, and Venezuela's FIEM and FONDEN. The main reason why these funds have been exhausted is due to political instability, while economic determinants generally play a less important role.

SWFs in unstable countries may provoke risks for recipient states of SWF investments, given that the instability in SWF-sponsor countries makes those investments uncertain and likely to be disinvested to weather political risk in the short-term.

Highly stable countries, such as Denmark, Qatar, China, or Australia are less likely to experience SWF depletion precisely because of their political stability.

Largest sovereign wealth funds

See also: List of countries by sovereign wealth funds and List of countries by foreign-exchange reserves

Country or Region Abbreviation Fund Assets billions US$ Inception Origin Norway GPF-G Government Pension Fund Global 1,631 1990 Oil & Gas China CIC China Investment Corporation 1,350 2007 Non-commodity China SAFE SAFE Investment Company 1,090 1997 Non-commodity United Arab Emirates ADIA Abu Dhabi Investment Authority 993 1976 Oil & Gas Kuwait KIA Kuwait Investment Authority 980 1953 Oil & Gas Saudi Arabia PIF Public Investment Fund 925 1971 Oil & Gas Singapore GIC GIC Private Limited 770 1981 Non-commodity Qatar QIA Qatar Investment Authority 526 2005 Oil & Gas Hong Kong HKMA Exchange Fund (Hong Kong) 514 1935 Non-commodity China NSSF National Council for Social Security Fund of the People’s Republic of China 414 2000 Non-commodity United Arab Emirates ICD Investment Corporation of Dubai 341 2006 Oil & Gas United Arab Emirates PJSC Mubadala Investment Company 302 2002 Oil & Gas Singapore TH Temasek Holdings 287 1974 Non-commodity Turkey TWF Turkey Wealth Fund 279.3 2017 Non-commodity United Arab Emirates ADQ Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company 196 2018 Non-commodity South Korea KIC Korea Investment Corporation 201 2005 Non-commodity Russia NWF Russian National Wealth Fund 148.4 2008 Oil & Gas Australia FF Future Fund 223.4 2006 Non-commodity United Arab Emirates EIA Emirates Investment Authority 87 2007 Oil & Gas United States APF Alaska Permanent Fund 78.01 1976 Oil & Gas Brunei BIA Brunei Investment Agency 73 1983 Oil & Gas Kazakhstan SK Samruk-Kazyna 68.38 2008 Oil & Gas Libya LIA Libyan Investment Authority 67 2006 Oil & Gas Kazakhstan NF Kazakhstan National Fund 55.7 2012 Oil & Gas United States PSF Texas Permanent School Fund 52.32 1854 Land & Mineral Royalties Oman OIA Oman Investment Fund 47 2020 Oil & Gas United Arab Emirates DW Dubai World 47 2005 Non-commodity Azerbaijan SOFAZ State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan 43 1999 Oil & Gas Austria ÖBAG Österreichische Beteiligungs AG 38.4 1967 Non-commodity Malaysia KN Khazanah Nasional 35.8 1993 Non-commodity New Zealand NZSF New Zealand Superannuation Fund 35.1 2003 Non-commodity France BPI Bpifrance 33.5 2008 Non-commodity United States PUF Texas Permanent University Fund 33.01 1876 Land & Mineral Royalties United States LGPF New Mexico Land Grant Permanent Fund 28.65 1912 Land & Mineral Royalties Russia RDIF Russian Direct Investment Fund 25 2011 Non-commodity Germany NWDF Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund 25 2017 Non-commodity Norway GPF-N Government Pension Fund – Norway 22 2006 Oil & Gas Papua New Guinea PNGSWF Papua New Guinea Sovereign Wealth Fund 22 2011 Oil & Gas Bahrain BMHC Mumtalakat Holding Company 18.3 2006 Oil & Gas Timor Leste TLPF Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund 17 2005 Oil & Gas Ireland ISIF Ireland Strategic Investment Fund 15.7 2014 Non-commodity Canada AHSTF Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund 15 1976 Oil & Gas Colombia FAEP Fondo de Ahorro y Estabilización Petrolera 12 1995 Oil & Gas Chile ESSF Economic and Social Stabilization Fund 11 2007 Copper Chile PRF Pension Reserve Fund 11 2006 Copper United States PWMTF Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund 10.05 1974 Minerals Iran NDFI National Development Fund 10 2011 Oil & Gas Philippines MIF Maharlika Investment Fund 9.2 2023 Non-commodity United States NDLF North Dakota Legacy Fund 10.27 2011 Oil & Gas United States STPF New Mexico Severance Tax Permanent Fund 8.33 1973 Oil & Gas United Kingdom NWF National Wealth Fund 7.3 2024 Non-commodity Mexico FMP Fondo Mexicano del Petroleo para la Estabilizacion y el Desarrollo 7 2000 Oil & Gas Trinidad & Tobago HSF Heritage and Stabilization Fund 5.6 2000 Oil & Gas Indonesia INA Indonesia Investment Authority 5.6 2021 Non-commodity India NIIF National Investment and Infrastructure Fund 5.3 2015 Non-commodity China CADF China-Africa Development Fund 5 2007 Non-commodity Peru FSF Fiscal Stabilization Fund 5 1999 Non-commodity Italy CDP Equity Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Equity 394 2011 Non-commodity Botswana PF Pula Fund 4.1 1994 Diamonds United States ATF Alabama Trust Fund 3.4 1985 Oil & Gas United States IEFIB Idaho Endowment Fund Investment Board 3.2 1969 Land & Mineral Royalties United States SIFTO Utah School and Institutional Trust Funds Office 2.5 1983 Land & Mineral Royalties Vietnam SCIC State Capital Investment Corporation 2.4 2006 Non-commodity Nigeria NSIA Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority 2.3 2011 Oil & Gas Angola FSDEA Fundo Soberano de Angola 2.2 2012 Oil & Gas Belgium SFPIM Federale Participatie- en Investeringsmaatschappij 2 1962 Non-commodity United Arab Emirates RAKIA Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority 2 2005 Oil & Gas United Arab Emirates SAM Sharjah Asset Management Holding 2 2008 Non-Commodity United States CSF Oregon Common School Fund 2 1859 Lands & Mineral Royalties Kuwait AWQAF Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Fund 1.99 1993 Non-commodity Panama FAP Fondo de Ahorro de Panama 1.4 2012 Non-commodity United States LEQTF Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund 1.5 1986 Oil & Gas United States BCPL Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands 1.4 1848 Land, Timber and Non-commodity United States FMP Colorado Public School Fund Endowment Board 1.2 2016 Lands and Minerals Royalties Israel Israeli Citizens' Fund 1.01 2022 Gas & Minerals Gabon FGIS Fonds Gabonais d'Investissements Strategiques 1.0 2012 Oil & Gas Palestine PIF Palestine Investment Fund 0.9 2003 Non-commodity Ghana GPF Ghana Petroleum Funds 0.9 2011 Oil & Gas Australia WAFF Western Australian Future Fund 0.9 2012 Minerals Turkmenistan TSF Turkmenistan Stabilization Fund 0.5 2008 Oil & Gas Bolivia FINPRO Fondo para la Revolución Industrial Productiva 0.4 2015 Non-commodity Kiribati RERF Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund 0.4 1956 Phosphates Equatorial Guinea FRGF Fonds de Réserves pour Générations Futures 0.2 2002 Oil & Gas Rwanda AGDF Agaciro Development Fund 0.2 2012 Non-commodity United States WVFF West Virginia Future Fund 0.1 2014 Oil & Gas Mauritania NFHR National Fund for Hydrocarbon Reserves 0.1 2006 Oil & Gas Mongolia FHF Future Heritage Fund 0.1 2011 Minerals Nigeria BDIC Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation 0.1 2012 Non-commodity Senegal FONSIS Fonds Souverain d'Investissement Strategiques 0.1 2012 Non-commodity

See also

• Boutique investment bank
• Fund of funds
• Global financial system
• Government Pension Fund of Norway
• Investment management
• List of exchange-traded funds
• List of hedge funds
• List of investment banks
• List of private-equity firms
• National wealth

Further reading

• Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute – What is a SWF? What is a Sovereign Wealth Fund? - SWFI
• Natural Resource Governance Institute & Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment "Managing the Public Trust: How to make natural resource funds work for citizens", 2014. [1]
• Castelli Massimiliano and Fabio Scacciavillani "The New Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds", John Wiley & Sons, 2012
• Saleem H. Ali and Gary Flomenhoft. "Innovating Sovereign Wealth Funds" Archived 3 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Policy Innovations, 17 February 2011.
• M. Nicolas J. Firzli World Pensions Council (WPC) Asset Owners Report: “Infrastructure Investments in an Age of Austerity: The Pension and Sovereign Funds Perspective”, USAK/JTW 30 July 2011 and Revue Analyse Financière, Q4 2011
• M. Nicolas J. Firzli and Joshua Franzel. "Non-Federal Sovereign Wealth Funds in the United States and Canada". Revue Analyse Financière, Q3 2014
• Xu Yi-chong and Gawdat Bahgat, eds. The Political Economy of Sovereign Wealth Funds (Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) 272 pages; case studies of SWFs in China, Kuwait, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries.
• Lixia, Loh. "Sovereign Wealth Funds: States Buying the World" (Global Professional Publishing: 2010).