Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The code of conduct outlined by the International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds might lose its rationale if it is not vigorously implemented. The individual aspects of the principles need to be more carefully looked at.
Investors from emerging surplus capital economies no longer restrict themselves to financing the debt burden of big public and private players; they also strategically seek equity stakes in companies based in industrialized economies.
As the global economic crisis deepens, Arab Sovereign Wealth Funds can overcome the concern many foreign governments harbor about accepting investment money from them by providing greater transparency about their holdings and investment strategies.
As stock markets around the world have come crashing down, sovereign wealth fund managers have shifted gear in their investment strategies.
America’s choice for Barack Obama as future President of the U.S. has dramatically changed the agenda for the rest of the world in all its facets. One of them is the ongoing argument about the role that Arab Sovereign Wealth Funds should play in the global economy and beyond.
The financial crisis in the US provide a strong indication of how Wall Street has become the "near abroad" of Arab investors and how tightly the Arab world is weaved into global financial markets. How it navigates the financial turmoil is going to make a huge impact on its reputation and standing among other global investors.
Foreign investments from the Arab world and other emerging economies are making the headlines nowadays. The most recent is the acquisition of a 90 per cent stake of the Chrysler building in New York by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (Adic) for US$800 million (Dh2.93 billion).
The role of Sovereign Wealth Funds, large state-owned investment vehicles, in the global financial architecture is beginning to top the political agenda in Europe and the United States. Europeans and Americans have voiced their concerns about the economic and political influence that foreign governments could exercise through their SWFs.
