Sovereign Wealth Funds

The global economy has witnessed the emergence of a new set of key actors over the last two decades. Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) and Pension Funds (PFs) -or Sovereign Investors -have become pivotal players in global financial markets thanks to their liquidity, and continue to grow rapidly in number and in size. This group of highly heterogeneous funds has different backgrounds, structures, and missions, but shares an ultimate goal: to preserve capital and maximize the return on investments.

Varlık fonları petrol zengini ülkelerin fazla rezervlerini değerlendirmek için kurdukları fonlar olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Asya krizinin etkisiyle Doğu Asya ülkeleri de ihracat gelir fazlalarını korumak için bu fonları kurmaya başlamıştır. Böylece varlık fonları tüm dünyada hızla yayılmıştır. 1990 yılında değeri 500 milyar dolar olan varlık fonlarının günümüzdeki değeri 15 kat artarak 7,6 trilyon dolara yükselmiştir. Çalışmamızda finansal sisteme önemli etkileri bulunan varlık fonlarının hem kavramsal hem de uygulama açısından detaylı bir incelemesi yapılmıştır. Bu kapsamda, dünyanın başarılı varlık fonu uygulamalarından seçilen altı örnek incelenmiştir. 2016 yılında kurulan Türkiye Varlık Fonu, seçilen bu 6 uygulama örneği ile karşılaştırılmış ve söz konusu fonun Türkiye ekonomisine olası etkileri incelenmiştir. Sonuç olarak, Türkiye Varlık Fonu'nun dünyadaki uygulama örneklerinden farklılıkları ile Türkiye ekonomisine olası etkileri değerlendirilmiştir.

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) came to exist as funds established by oil-rich countries to utilize their excess reserves. The East Asian countries, with the impact of the Asian Crisis, began to form these funds to protect their export surpluses revenue. In this way, SWF spread rapidly throughout the world. The current value of sovereign wealth funds, which was worth $ 500 billion in 1990, increased 15 times to 7,6 trillion dollars. In our study, Sovereign Wealth Funds, which have significant effects on financial system, have been examined in detail both in conceptual and practical aspects. In this context, six examples selected from successful sovereign wealth funds applications in the world were examined. Turkiye Wealth Fund, which was founded in 2016, was compared with selected six examples and the possible impacts of the fund on Turkish economy were analyzed. As a conclusion, the differences of Turkiye Wealth Fund from the examples of the world-wide applications and the possible impacts on the Turkish economy were taken into consideration.

The Central and Eastern European (CEE) capital markets (of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and, to a limited extent, Belarus) are gradually evolving towards increased breadth (diversity) and depth (liquidity), however, they are still exposed to considerable cross-country volatility and interdependence spill-overs - especially in times of capital flight to more established asset classes (“safe havens”). Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have widely been censured for their undesirable political interference and chronic operational opacity. This paper demonstrates that in CEE, contrary to widespread perceptions attributable to developed markets, SWFs can act as natural and powerful risk mitigators (contributing to a more stable capital base and reduced systemic volatility). Such a proposition is premised on several factors specific to SWFs oriented to CEE. They comprise: strategic long-termism and patience in overcoming interim pricing def...

The Segment that resists the art market crisis

The global market of modern and contemporary African art performed strongly in 2016 with a sell-through rate of 72% in a morose context of the international art market and the slowing down of African economies.
This segment proved to be an exception. The huge direct and indirect investments, mainly in western countries as well as new structural initiatives in Africa ranging between US$ 300 million to US$ 400 million in the last five years.
Modern art led the market with a sell-through rate of 76%, and 55% in value of the total amount of sales, reaching US$23.3 million. Bids that exceeded the symbolic threshold of US$1 million rose by 200%, including 50% for modern art and 50% for contemporary art. Strauss & Co, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, is the leading auction house for the total amount of works sold with 31% in value and 57% of lots.
Auction houses based in the African continent counting for 46.1% of the total value, fetching US$19.6 million and 93.2% of lots London held the most important place in the market in 2016, considering the number of operators in our study that organised sales (40% of the total), the number of proposed lots (2.9% of the total) and of sold lots (28.1% and US$11.9 million in the year) and institutional and commercial exhibitions.
The enlargement of the buyers' base in all categories.
In contemporary art, the works sold beyond their high estimates, representing 58% in value, or US$8 million, and 37.9% between their estimates or US$5,7 million with regard to the total number of sales in this category.
Female artists continue to lead this market for the second consecutive year and constitute a very important market share. They represent 60% of the top five most expensive selling lots in all categories and 66.5% in value for this same ranking.
One of the pillars of this segment's improvement is the African diaspora. In this new report, we have decided to scrutinize its contribution, importance and impact because for a long time it has been active in making African art the segment with the biggest growth potential in the art market.

Download the report for free here http://bit.ly/2E2B8RA

Noruega, al igual que el resto de países nórdicos, es mundialmente famosa por su alto nivel de vida y su compromiso con el medio ambiente. En efecto, sus iniciativas a favor del cambio climático y el desarrollo sostenible fueron notables sobre todo en los años 80 y principios de los 90. Destaca su fomento de los coches eléctricos, y el uso de las energías limpias. En su matriz energética destaca el uso de la energía hidroeléctrica, renovable y no contaminante, pero carece del desarrollo de otras energías renovables que sus vecinos nórdicos sí han comenzado a explotar. Además, no hay que olvidar que es uno de los mayores exportadores de hidrocarburos, cuyo comercio le ha reportado importantes beneficios económicos y es clave para la actividad de empresas manufactureras y de servicios que forman una cadena de proveedores para la industria petrolera. En esta comunicación trataremos de repasar tanto los aspectos positivos de la política energética noruega, como sus puntos negativos y el discurso contradictorio y a veces hipócrita de las autoridades respecto al tema medioambiental, que los propios noruegos denuncian pero es poco conocida a nivel internacional. Palabras clave: Noruega, hidrocarburos, gases de efecto invernadero, energías renovables, vehículos eléctricos

This paper aims at presenting the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), the world's largest Sovereign Wealth Fund, characterized by its pioneering ethical guidelines for investment decisions, based on active ownership and the exclusion of firms from its portfolio. Two major reasons for the exclusion of a company are " severe environmental damage " and " coal production " , leading to the banishment of many companies from the Fund's holdings. Despite the noble intentions, the GPFG is loaded with inconsistencies, especially because its resources come from the exploitation of fossil fuels that contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the entire Norwegian environmental policy is fragmented and suffers from contradictions.

The 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on limiting global warming to 1.5 °C highlights the importance of access to capital for reaching this target. As directly or indirectly government-owned and -controlled investment vehicles with a an intrinsically long-term perspective, sovereign wealth funds have an self-interest in preventing climate change and its long-term impacts on the world economy and their broader portfolios. Other investors may choose to look upon climate change as an externality as long as they are not forced to take it into account. By contrast, sovereign wealth funds are perhaps the investor class for whom it makes most sense to internalize the consequences of climate change, as their long-term investment horizon makes them directly vulnerable to its consequences. Nonetheless, the number of sovereign wealth funds that engage in such investments and the proportion of their capital that is directed towards green financing remains small. This chapter discusses the operational aspects that make sovereign wealth funds good candidates of public green financing and the limitations that they face in this process. The discussion concludes with useful policy and governance considerations.

Investments by Asian Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) continue to be of concern in the global economy. A common perception is that they are managed by state-affiliated entities with geostrategic motives that could somehow prove detrimental to host countries. This paper demonstrates, however, that even the definition, let alone the establishment and investment targets, of Asian SWFs are embroiled in ambiguity within home country politics. Plainly put, ambiguity refers to the absence of clear-cut policy processes, means, and goals. How do we explain the ambiguity surrounding SWFs? Ambiguity is not a cover for deliberate, cohesive, and strategic actions, because SWFs are not under the control of any one set of actors. Rather, perhaps to the discomfort even of home country sovereigns, ambiguity is a messy domestic product of contending political forces that do not allow a marked trend toward any one single policy equilibrium on sovereign investments, whether domestic or foreign. While this reality is perhaps understandable in a democratic polity, it is also equally true of authoritarian ones in the region. In both types of cases, ambiguity is constructed inadvertently by the interactions of state, interstate, and intrastate actors, each with their own interests and expectations about the role of SWFs. Analyzing the cases in Singapore, China, Japan, and other Asian countries, from this unifying perspective suggests that while ambiguity may fuel external anxiety concerning home country intentions, it actually reflects far more domestically salient controversies about SWF activities than is typically appreciated.

تعتبر الصناديق السيادية ظاهرة اقتصادية تم إنشائها من قبل معظم الدول النفطية بغية ادخار أو استثمار الفوائض المالية المحققة نتيجة لارتفاع أسعار النفط، والاستفادة منها في العديد من القطاعات سواء داخل البلد أو خارجه.
ويعتبر صندوق الثروة السيادي بالنرويج وصندوق ضبط الموارد بالجزائر من بين أكبر الصناديق السيادية في العالم، إلا أن الأول يعتبر ناجحا مقارنة بالأخير، وهذا لاعتماده على معايير ومبادئ الحوكمة الجيدة.
  Sovereign funds are considered an economic phenomenon created by the most oil-producing countries in order to save or invest financial surpluses as a result of high oil prices, and use them in a variety of sectors, whether inside or outside the country. The Norway's sovereign wealth fund and the Fund for the Regulation of Receipts (FRR) of Algeria, are among the largest sovereign funds in the world. However, the first is considered more success than the latest, due to the application of the principles and rules of good governance.

I Rikdommens språk utforsker åtte forfattere ulike sider ved Oljefondet. Hver tekst tar for seg et begrep som er sentralt i fondets fortelling om og fremstilling av seg selv. Ved å fokusere på språket som brukes om fondet, belyser forfatterne rikdommen som preger livene både innenfor og utenfor Norges grenser.

Oljefondet forvalter statens inntekter fra utvinningen av olje og gass i Nordsjøen, og har på kort tid vokst til å bli verdens største statlige investeringsfond. Det tilhører det norske folk i fellesskap, og yter store bidrag til finansieringen av offentlige tjenester over statsbudsjettet. Fondet er dypt forankret i demokratisk politikk og byråkratisk forvaltning, og har gjort det norske folk og samfunn til en stor aktør i de internasjonale finansmarkedene.

Rikdommens språk bringer sammen økonomer, forskere, sakprosaskribenter og skjønnlitterære forfattere. Ved hjelp av ulike litterære former og virkemidler opplyser de forskjellige aspekter ved denne institusjonen, som får stadig større betydning for det norske samfunnet og verden for øvrig.

Bidragsyterne er Cathrine Knudsen, Morten Søberg, Amalie Kasin Lerstang, Klaus Mohn, Bjørn Vatne, Øyvind Rimbereid, Karl Emil Rosenbæk og Anne Karin Sæther.

Rikdommens språk springer ut av forskningsprosjektet «Forms and Ethics, Shapes of Finance», og tekstene er utarbeidet blant annet på bakgrunn av felles seminarer avholdt i desember 2020 og mars 2021.

L'elaborato presenta un particolare veicolo di investimento, i Fondi Sovrani, che hanno assunto importanza ed attenzioni nel nuovo millennio, in quanto, a gestire la ricchezza da questi accumulata, non sono soggetti privati ma direttamente o indirettamente gli Stati sovrani.
Nel primo capitolo si chiariscono le principali caratteristiche dei FOS, la gestione statale, la preponderanza degli investimenti all'estero e l'ottica di lungo-periodo degli investimenti, oltre alla presenza di finalità ulteriori, segnatamente politiche, rispetto al principio della massimizzazione del
rapporto rischio/rendimento, tipico degli investitori privati.
Tuttavia, essendo il fenomeno dei FOS estremamente eterogeneo, come dimostrano le difficoltà della dottrina ad individuare una definizione puntuale e a giungere ad una classificazione pacifica, si sono evidenziate le principali differenze rispetto ad altre forme di investimento quali i fondi pensione, gli hedge fund e le riserve ufficiali ed è stata analizzata la loro evoluzione e il ruolo giocato nella crisi economica del 2008.
Infine, è stato presentato il funzionamento di due fondi sovrani: quello italiano, CDP Equity S.p.A e quello costituito su iniziativa dei Paesi membri dell'Unione Europea.
La sempre maggiore, e talvolta ingombrante presenza dei Fondi Sovrani, nei mercati finanziari, ha destato preoccupazioni sul piano geopolitico e su quello economico, vista la loro scarsa propensione a comunicare dati e informazioni sulla propria struttura giuridica e sui risultati finanziari ottenuti.
Per questo motivo diverse organizzazioni internazionali, fra cui l'OCSE e il Fondo Monetario Internazionale hanno tentato di incrementare la
trasparenza di questi veicoli di investimento: l'esperimento più approfondito ha portato all'emanazione dei Santiago Principles, un codice di condotta a cui i FOS, su base volontaria, possono aderire, rendendo così pubblici i propri meccanismi di funzionamento, la propria governance e i risultati ottenuti. A oltre un decennio dalla loro pubblicazione, sono stati descritti gli aspetti positivi e i limiti di questa iniziativa, su tutti la facoltatività e l'assenza di un meccanismo sanzionatorio arrivando alla conclusione che essa sia servita ad accreditare i FOS nei mercati finanziari come un investitore istituzionale affidabile.
Nell'ultima parte dell'elaborato sono state prese in considerazione le tecniche difensive adottate dagli Stati, nel caso in cui gli investimenti esteri, anche dei Fondi Sovrani, vengano considerati pregiudizievoli per la sicurezza nazionale, nozione tutt'altro che unanime e prestatisi a nascondere intenzioni neoprotezionistiche degli Stati: è stata presentata la via scelta da molti Paesi, quella della regolazione mediante Bilateral Investment Agreement, i c.d. BIT, mentre particolare attenzione è
stata dedicata al meccanismo di scrutinio preventivo presente negli Stati Uniti attraverso il CFIUS, che vede il coinvolgimento in prima persona del Presidente.
A livello europeo, si è prima valutata la compatibilità degli investimenti dei FOS rispetto ai principi cardine dell'ordinamento europeo quali la libera circolazione dei capitali e la libertà di stabilimento e successivamente è stata presentata la tecnica della Golden Power introdotta nell'ordinamento italiano, la quale potrebbe fungere da modello per l'introduzione di una disciplina a livello europeo,
superando la frammentazione attuale, a cui peraltro la Commissione aveva tentato di porre rimedio.

Recent tectonic, global, economic and political shifts have spurred the emergence of new organizational forms such as sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), state-owned investment organizations without pension liabilities, arising primarily in emerging and frontier markets. Although scholars have begun to explore SWF macroeconomic trends, little is known about the challenges these institutional investors face or about their strategic capabilities to address these concerns.  Drawing on comparative and strategic corporate governance research, we develop an organizing framework to better understand the firm-level characteristics of SWFs and their consequences. Our analysis of these investment funds’ multidimensional strategic governance traits contributes to the literature on state capitalism and comparative corporate governance.

More than 50 states around the world now possess a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), yet only the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) directly distributes profits to national citizens. SWFs are government-owned investment vehicles, more than two-
thirds of which have been established since the year 2000. This article seeks to discover why this recent proliferation of SWFs has not been matched with a similar increase in their use as a financing source for Basic Income schemes.

The international investment regime is rapidly changing. Investment law is becoming a much more domestic field of law. A domestic investment institution that has been on the rise in the last years are investment screening mechanisms (ISMs). ISMs operate in parallel to international investment law. National security considerations lie at the epicentre of the screening procedures. Studying the US, Australia, Canada and the EU, the Chapter shows how the assessment of national security concerns has started leaving the realm of international investment law and investment arbitral tribunals in favour of domestic mechanisms of ex ante evaluation of interference by foreign investment with national security interests. In addition to this move from the international to the domestic, the comparative study shows that there is an opening of the definition of the term of national security to also include considerations beyond national security in the strict sense. Still, the Chapter suggests that the world is not necessarily advancing towards more closeness, but rather towards a fairer balance between globalization and national sovereignty.

Arguments for public ownership come in many different forms. Some appeal to the potential efficiency gains if a specific firm or industry is in public hands. Others appeal to the distributional benefits of public ownership. One version of this distributional argument is that if assets are publicly-owned then the return to these assets, including capital gains, can be more readily shared with the citizenry at large rather than flowing to a privileged few. In this article we explore the way this argument is developed in the work of the Nobel Laureate economist James Meade and sketch a case for the continuing relevance of Meade’s ideas.

Transportation Infrastructure and Country Att ractiveness

Cross-country comparison conducted by the
World Pensions Council (WPC) suggests that
transportation infrastructure, although important,
is not a major determinant of institutional
investment.

‘Sustainability’ and the ‘eradication of poverty’ have taken center stage in supranational financial frameworks meant notably to help the economies of Asia, Latin America and Africa.

This is certainly a welcome evolution, but it should not supersede or overshadow the paramount need for growth-oriented policies in both Northern Hemisphere and developing nations : such a policy realignment will only be made possible by massive public investment in modern infrastructure assets at federal, state and municipal level, and citizen-investors (pension fund trustees) exercising more forcefully their governance role across the boards of companies large and small.

In Charlemagne’s Survey of the Holy Land, Michael McCormick rehabilitates and reinterprets one of the most neglected and extraordinary sources from Charlemagne’s revival of the Roman empire: the report of a fact-finding mission to the Christian church of the Holy Land. The roll of documents translated and edited in this volume preserves the most detailed statistical portrait before the Domesday Book of the finances, monuments (including exact dimensions), and female and male personnel of any major Christian church.

Setting these documents in the context of economic trends, archaeological evidence, and a comparison of Holy Land churches and monasteries with their contemporaries west and east, this study shows that the Palestinian church was living in decline as its old financial links with Byzantium slackened. In recounting Charlemagne’s move to outflank the Byzantine emperor, McCormick constructs a microhistory of the Frankish king’s ambitions and formidable organizational talents for running an empire.

Supplementing McCormick’s major synthesis, The Origins of the European Economy, this volume will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in medieval rulership and economics, and in the history of the Holy Land, its Christian communities, and its late antique monuments.


"At its worst, microhistory is merely antiquarian button counting. But at its best, as exemplified here, small things serve as touchstones for studies of wider-ranging significance. McCormick examines the Basel Roll, a ninth-century manuscript relating the information gathered by envoys of Charlemagne, who inquired into the financial needs of churches in and around Jerusalem. The roll preserves three documents that provide personnel numbers and sizes of building roofs in area churches and monasteries, as well as partial annual expenditures for the patriarch of Jerusalem...McCormick shows that the Jerusalem church had shrunk since late antiquity; that contemporary Frankish houses were larger and richer; and that Einhard did not exaggerate Charlemagne's interest in faraway Christian communities. Among the many strengths of the book is the full-size facsimile of the Basel Roll included as a stand-alone poster. (C. J. Chandler Choice 2012-11-01)"

2016 Haziran sonu itibarıyla kontrollerindeki aktif büyüklük tutarı yaklaşık olarak 6 trilyon 84 milyar ABD Dolarına ulaşan  ve dünyada üzerinde genel kabul sağlanan tek bir isimlendirmeye ve tanıma  sahip olmamakla birlikte Ulusal Varlık Fonu, Ulusal Yatırım Fonu, Devlet Refah Fonu, Ulusal Refah Fonu, Ülke Yatırım Fonu, Egemen Varlık Fonu veya Bağımsız Varlık Fonu… vb. karşılıklar ile kullanıldığı görülen, ülkelerin resmi rezervleri haricindeki milli varlıklarını ve birikimlerini ifade eden ‘Sovereign Wealth Funds’a benzeri bir yapının Türkiye’de kurulmasına karar verilmiştir.
Yaklaşım Dergisi'nin Eylül 2016 ve Ekim 2016 sayılarında iki bölüm halinde yayımlanan bu makalede, Türkiye Varlık Fonu Yönetimi A.Ş. Kurulmasına Dair Kanunun genel bir değerlendirilmesi;
Birinci Bölümde;
I - Giriş
II- Türkiye Varlık Fonu Yönetimi A.Ş.'nin Faaliyet Konusu
III- Türkiye Varlık Yönetimi A.Ş. Ana Sözleşmesinin İçeriği ve Onayı
IV- Türkiye Varlık Fonunun Kaynakları
İkinci Bölümde ise;
V - Denetim
VI- Türkiye Varlık Fonunun Mal Varlığının Haczi ve Rehni
VII- Muafiyet ve İstisnalar
VIII- Organizasyon Yapısı
IX- Genel Değerlendirme ve Sonuç
başlıkları altında yapılmaktadır.

Latin America has become an attractive region for foreign investment, both portfolio and direct. This is mainly due to the past few years of economic growth, accompanied by the expansion of the middle class, greater regional macroeconomic stability, increased opportunities offered by the traditional natural resource sectors and new developments in the areas of infrastructure, manufacturing and technology.

Through statistics published by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the paper explores why oilfield sabotage from 2009 to 2015 remains a problem in the Niger Delta, despite the 2009 amnesty programme. It explains why some of these incidents are a direct result of the failure to implement socioeconomic development in successive state agencies due to corruption, a consequence of the natural resource curse. The article then explores why and how a Nigerian Non-Renewable Revenue Special Fund (NNRSF) overseen by the United Nations Development Programme should be established which would not only manage a portion of oil revenue funds from the Niger Delta but also initiate valid social and economic projects in order to help reduce the prevalence of sabotage and instability in the region.

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are pools of assets owned and managed directly or indirectly by governments to achieve national objectives. Typically they are funded by foreign exchange reserves, royalties on the sale of natural resources, or general tax revenues. Aside from the obvious funding for socioeconomic objectives in the country this paper aims to address the persistent problem of low reserves by proposing a sovereign wealth fund.

James Meade argued that public ownership of productive assets should have a central role in a 'liberal socialist' economy. While somewhat sceptical of the state seeking to run specific firms or industries, Meade argued that the state should own a significant share of a society's productive assets, using the return on the assets to promote a more equal distribution of income (e.g., through payment of a universal social dividend). This paper traces the development of Meade's thinking around this citizens' trust concept; explores its influence in UK policy discussions; and makes the case for the continuing relevance of the proposal in response to contemporary economic developments.

This dissertation investigates the sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), which are vehicles for governments’ financial investments, allocated priory in foreign financial assets. The main problem under concern refers to state intervention as long as states are truly players in the international financial system. It represents major repercussions for the financial globalization process, especially after the massive promotion of principles such as state retrenchment. Therefore, it is investigated if SWFs are stumbling blocks or stepping stones to financial globalization, in a three-basis discussion: analysis of the pre-conditions for SWFs development as a result of rearrangements in the international division of labor; analysis of the purposes for creating a SWF as a result of rearrangements in the states authorities in relation to financial globalization; and analysis of SWF regulation process against protectionism actions from recipient countries. The discussion is supported by a categorization of the main characteristics from thirty selected funds.

Yakın zamanda kurulan Türkiye Varlık Fonu’nun, şirketler hukuku, rekabet hukuku ve sermaye piyasası hukuku gibi hukukun birçok alanında etkileri söz konusudur.
Bu etkilerin Türkiye’nin hukuki ve ekonomik sisteminde yaratabilecekleri olası problemlerin önlenmesi için önceden incelenmeleri ve açıklığa kavuşturulmaları gerekir. Açıklığa kavuşturulması gereken hususlardan biri, Türkiye Varlık Fonu ve portföyünde yer alan şirketlerin bir şirketler topluluğu oluşturup oluşturmadığıdır.
Bunu takiben ele alınması gereken bir diğer husus ise, eğer gerçekten ortada bir şirketler topluluğu varsa, Türkiye Varlık Fonu mevzuatı da göz önüne alındığında, Türk Ticaret Kanunu’nun ilgili hükümlerinin doğrudan uygulanıp uygulanamayacağı hususudur.
Bu makale, varlık fonu kavramının mahiyetini, kuruluş amaçlarını ve biçimlerini açıklayarak incelemekte, ardından ise Türkiye Varlık Fonu’nu ve Türkiye Varlık Fonu çevresinde oluşan şirketler topluluğunu ele almaktadır.

This chapter encapsulates the most recent findings on sovereign wealth fund (SWF) investment activity globally. The key research proposals addressed herein relate to the position of global SWFs among conventional and alternative asset managers, SWF allocation strategies, their recent investment behavior and its likely evolution in the foreseeable future.

Assets under management by public funds, including sovereign wealth funds and sovereign pension funds, continues to grow at a strong pace. As funds grow larger and new sovereign funds come into the market, the identification of suitable investments in an increasingly crowded marketplace become correspondingly more difficult. The universe of potential investments is narrowed by a trust deficit between many sovereign funds and the regulators in countries in which these funds invest; this trust deficit can result in higher regulatory costs that price public funds out of the market, or can create unacceptably high regulatory risks that deter funds from considering certain investments. Because transparency can help foster trust, this report seeks to remedy the trust deficit by suggesting a disclosure framework for public fund investment policies that are most relevant to recipient country regulators. The report then reviews selected policies, as available, for the 25 largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, as listed by the Sovereign Wealth Institute, and the 26 largest sovereign pension funds, as listed in the Pension & Investments/Towers Watson 300 Ranking. The report will be updated annually, and comments are welcome.

This paper investigates the idea of building responsible borrowing and lending into Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) decision-making. SWFs, which currently manage US$8 trillion in assets, are influential institutional investors, but their role in sovereign debt markets needs to be further explored. In this context, this paper critically assesses the linkages and convergences between the Santiago Principles on Sovereign Wealth Funds and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing.

Discussions of corporate governance often focus solely on the attractiveness of firms to investors, but it is also true that firms seek out preferred investors. What, then, are the characteristics of an attractive investor? With nearly $6 trillion in assets, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are increasingly important players in equity markets in the United States and abroad, and possess characteristics that firms prize: deep pockets, long-term (and for some, theoretically infinite) investment horizons, and potential network benefits that many other shareholders cannot offer. However, despite their economic power, their reach, and their general desirability as investors, SWFs are almost entirely disengaged from corporate governance matters in U.S. firms. Indeed, with the exception of Norway’s Government Pension Fund-Global, SWFs are notable primarily just for their passivity as shareholders.

Given the domestic and external political and regulatory factors that discourage SWF engagement in corporate governance in the United States, how can SWFs provide appropriate stewardship over their equity investments? The article answers this question by describing how SWFs and regulators can create the crucial “space” necessary for SWF engagement in corporate governance. The analysis proceeds in three substantive sections. Part I lays out a definition of SWFs and describes SWF investment patterns. Part II reviews empirical evidence on SWF investment behavior and the effects that the investment has on firm values, and then examines evidence on SWF activities in corporate governance. Part III discusses the key factors that limit SWF involvement in corporate governance activities. Part IV describes how, given these limitations, SWFs may engage in governance without triggering regulatory reprisals, and how regulators can encourage SWF investment and engagement.

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF)  are potentially important source of capital for developing countries. The objective of this study is to investigate SWFs’ investments in developing countries in order to check whether they really became major players in the development financing of emerging countries.
The research is based on the empirical data. The sample consists of 10,446 cross-border transactions catalogued in the years ranging from 2000 and mid-2014, including 1,876 investments in non-OECD countries, valued at USD 108.6 billion.
This paper proves that SWFs have not become major players in the development financing of emerging countries. The observations made in this paper strongly confirmed that their investments are mainly focused on advanced markets, because SWFs prefer broad and deep markets instead of small economies. As a result, the majority of developing countries are not able to appeal to SWFs.
The results of the research contribute also to the academic discussion about the political motives of SWF investments. The examples of SWFs  engaged in some humanitarian or developing initiatives prove that politically biased investments are not necessary harmful and menacing. This observation should be taken into account in the discussion that are overly concentrated on presenting threats behind the political dependency of funds.

In Russia, civil society engagement with the petroleum sector is surprisingly rich and varied for a country that is ranked low on most democracy-related indicators. This chapter finds that there is a lively and varied public debate, with business associations, research institutes, independent experts, indigenous organizations and the few surviving independent media actively and often competently analysing and commenting on a broad range of issues related to the oil and gas sector. Russians were early users of social media, which occasionally also function as a platform for discussion of petroleum policy issues. However, the real impact of civil society on decision-making and policy formulation in the petroleum sector is not as great as the diversity of actors and discussion might imply. One key reason is the tight government control over mainstream media outlets. The situation for free speech and civil society worsened steadily from around 2004 to 2016. As in neighbouring Kazakhstan, the Russian population puts a high premium on stability over freedom. While a central concern in this book is whether the media and civil society have any influence on the petroleum sector, in Russia the paradoxical situation is that the relationship is often reversed: the gas company Gazprom, rather than another organizational vehicle, is used by the government to control key mass media; and the oil company Yukos played a central role in promoting civil society until its main owner Mikhail Khodorkovskiy was arrested and the company was carved up.

This paper addresses the difficulties of accurately defining a SWF, discusses the evolution of the original SWFs from stabilization to wealth funds, and examines how SWFs are organized and funded. We also detail the key measures developed to assess the operational and informational transparency and institutional quality of different fund by comparing the organizational structures, corporate governance systems, and investment patterns observed for SWFs with those documented empirically for other internationally active institutional investors.

Sovereign Wealth Funds have been subject to ever-increasing concerns and little scientific analysis. As a consequence of their recent gain in prominence, significant worries have been expressed as Sovereign Wealth Funds, being large state-owned institutional investors, may eventually take investment decisions driven more by political and/or other objectives than by pure economic considerations. We investigate their investment decision drivers and rationale to invest and we provide a data-supported analysis of what really drives their investments. The study is based on a widely-recognized and proven econometric model, adapted where necessary in order to take into account Sovereign Wealth Funds' peculiarities and some accepted critics. The sample analyzed covers more than 300 companies invested in the last 30 years and domiciled in 29 countries. The model allows us to extract the drivers which lie behind targets' public equity returns. The drivers have been defined in terms of either economic justifiable or other-than-economic news. Based on the ex-post results, we infer what is likely to drive sovereign investments. Results are twofold: when just economic considerations are allowed to lead Sovereign Wealth Funds' investments, data strongly indicate sovereign investors mostly seek for companies with very high future cash-flow generation capabilities and/or characterized by great fundamentals rather than undervalued and/or market depressed companies. Removing the hypothesis of funds purely rational, economic-optimizers, we found other than economic motivations played a role in leading targets' equity returns. Nonetheless, data only allude to non-economic considerations that matter greatly in sovereign funds' decision processes with respect to economic ones.

We analyze definitions used by researchers about a single concept: Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF). It is still a matter of recent controversy and debate. We place these definitions into one of eleven categories. The results show full agreement (what we have called 'the core') for just two characteristics: SWFs are owned by governments and they are investment funds. Beyond the core, there are three layers commanding general consensus: SWFs are (1) international investors; (2) without explicit pension liabilities; (3) determined by the source of funding. But the debate remains open. The dynamic nature of SWFs, morphing institutions in a continuous evolution led us to conclude that there is no definition capturing the essence of these new instruments of state intervention.

In 1990 a sovereign wealth fund was founded in Norway in which the country invests surpluses from oil and gas industry sales. The fund is designed to secure the state’s ability to act in a post-petroleum era. At the end of the 1990’s the voice of Norwegian civil society insisted that the sovereign wealth fund should not only ensure intergenerational justice, but should also contribute to the implementation of values and norms of the present country. At the end of 2004 the parliament finally agreed upon ethical regulations for the investment of the sovereign wealth fund. Now the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the world only invests in businesses that adhere to those ethical regulations. In the present paper, I seek to illustrate the emergence and outcomes of this new development in the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund.

Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional, established in 1994, is one of the 20 largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. In the first decade of its existence, Khazanah had remained a somewhat hidden organisation, sheltered by virtue of being wholly owned by the government and reporting directly to the Prime Minister who provided the organisation with investment direction. However, at the dawn of its second decade of existence, Khazanah became much more transparent and accountable, and provided the public with more information about its activities, including a limited range of financial indicators. The change in leadership and democratic demands explain this turnaround. A reformed Khazanah was also given a new mandate to invest more aggressively internationally. The bulk of its investments have, however, remained in Malaysia and continues to be affected by the dynamics of local politics.