Global Sovereign Wealth Funds and Public Pension Assets Surpass $30 Trillion

Global Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and Public Pension Funds (PPF) Asset Management Scale [Image Source= Global SWF]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] According to major foreign media citing the Global SWF report, the total assets held by sovereign wealth funds and public pensions worldwide amounted to $31.9 trillion as of the end of last year, reported on the 3rd.

The asset size of public pensions and sovereign wealth funds surpassed $20 trillion and $10 trillion respectively for the first time ever. Global SWF analyzed 161 sovereign wealth funds and 275 public pension funds.

The asset size of sovereign wealth funds increased by 6% from 2020 to reach $10.5 trillion. Public pension fund assets grew by 9% to record $21.4 trillion. In 2020, the asset sizes of sovereign wealth funds and public pensions were $19.6 trillion and $9.9 trillion respectively.

By region, North America recorded the largest total assets under management at $12.167 trillion. Sovereign wealth funds accounted for $280 billion, and public pensions $11.887 trillion.

Following North America, Asia ranked second with total assets under management of $9.128 trillion, comprising $4.654 trillion in sovereign wealth funds and $4.474 trillion in public pensions.

The European Union (EU) had $1.685 trillion in sovereign wealth funds and $3.126 trillion in public pensions, totaling $4.811 trillion. The Middle East mainly managed sovereign wealth funds totaling $4.119 trillion in assets. Sovereign wealth funds accounted for $3.455 trillion, while public pensions were only $664 billion.

Oceania and South Africa managed assets of $1.239 trillion and $21 billion respectively.

Last year, asset prices such as stocks and crude oil futures rose sharply, significantly increasing the investment scale of sovereign wealth funds and public pensions. The total investment execution amounted to $215.6 billion, the highest in the past six years. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC completed 109 transactions, executing $31.1 billion, a 75% increase from 2020.

Among the total executed investments, the proportion invested in emerging markets was 23%, the lowest in the past six years. Although venture capital investment size increased by more than 80%, the investment amount was $18.2 billion, which was not a large share of the total. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek was confirmed to have made large-scale investments in venture capital. Temasek’s funds accounted for more than one-quarter of the total venture capital investment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.