Sovereign wealth funds take record share of global asset ownership

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[{"type":"text","content":"ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sovereign wealth funds now make up a record share of assets among the largest 100 global asset owners, according to new research by leading global advisory, broking and solutions company WTW’s (NASDAQ: WTW) Thinking Ahead Institute. Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) now make up 38.9% of total assets among the world’s largest 100 asset owners (the AO100). In absolute terms, sovereign wealth funds within the AO100 now represent $9.1 trillion. This has risen as a proportion due to a slower correction in collective assets among turbulent markets — after SWFs saw the combined effects of relative investment performance and new inflows outperform over the past 12 months compared with other types of asset owners. As a result, pension funds only just retain the majority share of assets under management (AUM) among the AO100, with the combined assets of pension funds making up 52.8%, while outsourced chief investment officers and master trusts are responsible for the remaining 8.3% of total AUM in the AO100. This marks a clear decline over the medium term. Five years ago, pension funds made up more than 60% of the AO100, while SWFs represented 32% (or less than one-third). Taken as a whole, the AO100 are now responsible for $23.4 trillion as of the end of 2022 — a decline of nearly 9% compared with the previous year when this stood at $25.7 trillion for the largest 100 asset owners at the time. Other findings from the full study by the Thinking Ahead Institute — which provides key insights and trends on the top 100 asset owners in the world — include a growing concentration of assets at the very top of the rankings across all types of organizations and differences in investment allocations. The very largest 20 asset owners in the world now have a total of $12.9 trillion alone, meaning the largest 20 represent 55.2% of the total AUM in the top 100. This concentration at the top of the rankings is caused by a slower decline in asset values among the largest asset owners in the preceding 12 months. In fact, just the top five asset owners accounted for 24.4% of total AUM in the study, with U$5.7 trillion. The Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan remains the largest asset owner in the world, with an AUM of $1.4 trillion alone. The top three also include the two largest sovereign wealth funds...

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