Are Sovereign Wealth Fund Different?

Based on a sample of 56 sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), the aim of the paper was to conduct a comparative analysis of SWFs and other asset management vehicles to verify whether SWFs can be considered institutional investors. Analysis focused on SWF asset allocations in a period that included the subprime mortgage crises (2007-2010), as well as on ‘political bias’. The results indicate that, while in the medium to long term SWFs use the same investment logic as institutional investors, in the short-term, there were other investment motivations beyond maximizing risk-return ratio