The role of sovereign wealth funds in global financial intermediation

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have experienced tremendous growth lately. Their combined wealth is currently estimated at $3 trillion, and the International Monetary Fund estimates that they will continue to grow to $10 trillion by 2012. SWFs' recent investments in the United States and Europe have been the focus of media and government scrutiny, given that a number of SWFs are not transparent, and emanate from authoritarian regimes, which are not political allies of the West. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview, along with detailed summary statistics on various aspects of SWFs. We also provide recommendations to facilitate SWFs' role in global financial intermediatio