Adia tops global wealth funds with $900b in assets

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) with $900 billion worth of assets under management, Deutsche Bank research shows.

The Singapore Investment Corporation is a distant second with assets worth $330 billion, while Norway's Government Pension Fund - Global (GPFG) is third with $322 billion in assets.

SWFs worldwide are managing assets worth $3.2 trillion, the research said.

The figures were revealed at a seminar on SWFs at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

Kurt Schacht, managing director of the US-based Centre for Financial Market Integrity (CFA Institute), said, "There are an estimated 45-50 sovereign wealth funds. The SWFs range in size from around $200 million to nearly $1 trillion."

He said the goals of SWFs are economic diversification, economic stabilisation, wealth preservation and generational equity, access to systematic and professional asset management, creating market centres and developing in-country expertise.

Of the other Middle East SWFs, Saudi Arabia's various funds have assets worth $300 billion under management, Kuwait Investment Authority $250 billion, Libya Oil Reserve Fund $100 billion, Qatar Investment Authority $60 billion and Iran's Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund $15 billion.