Sovereign wealth funds: The new rulers of finance
Getting the basics right
Financial institutions weigh up the opportunities
Fight on for Aussie’s future prizes
The Stanchart rumour
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"If the shoe was on the other foot, if these were sovereign wealth investors in France, Germany, the UK or the US earning fabulous returns, reducing countries’ national deficits, funding social security costs and investing into the rest of the world, would they think it was an issue? I suspect they wouldn’t"
Simon Israel, Temasek |
TEMASEK’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Simon Israel, has a point when he boasts of his institution’s governance, openness and performance. At a public sector level, Singapore, which lacks democracy or freedom of speech on any western scale, isn’t feted for openness or accountability. But the fact is that compared with the big sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf, for example, Temasek is actually pretty open, starting with the fact that Euromoney is sitting in its Orchard Road head office interviewing its management and leafing through its 113-page annual review. "When you think of the Singapore state you don’t normally think of transparency," says a fund manager who has dealt with both Singaporean and Gulf sovereign wealth funds. "But compared with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority or the Saudis, it’s an open book."
It isn’t a completely open book, but then it is not under any obligation to be so. When Standard Chartered plotted a matrix pitting sovereign funds against each other in terms of openness and strategic investment approach, Temasek came out among the most transparent in the world, behind only Norway, Alaska and Alberta. At a time when sovereign wealth funds are under increased scrutiny and suspicion, it’s useful for Singapore’s vehicle to be trying to set itself apart.
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