Endowments are back, just. The annual survey of their returns by NACUBO-Commonfund showed an average return of 11.9 per cent for the 850 college and university endowments in the study for the year to June 2010.
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The status of sovereign debt as a safe-haven investment has been put into question and the whole approach to bond investing may need to be revisited, according to Mercer, which has urged institutional investors to focus in the coming year on the ‘new realities’ of the global marketplace, which includes sufficient flexibility in their portfolios. (more…)
Israel is considering establishing its first sovereign wealth fund within one year using revenues from recent offshore natural-gas finds, following calls by the International Monetary Fund to do so. (more…)
Empirical literature and MSCI analysis show that high implementation costs indicate there is little evidence the average managers in either emerging market or small caps have produced either higher or more persistent risk-adjusted returns relative to their developed market and mid-cap peers.
Governed by distinct moral and legal codes, Islamic finance differs greatly from conventional investment approaches, emphasizing the sharing of risk and reward. This Vision Focus paper highlights this alternative form of investing and how it is becoming increasingly attractive to investors around the world.
Drawing on the expertise of our leading authorities on sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), this Vision paper assesses the implications of the financial crisis on SWFs, examining how the crisis has altered public perception, challenges posed and how SWFs might engage in the debate over a new financial world order.