据路透社报道，全球最大主权财富基金挪威政府全球养老基金（Goverment Pension Fund Global）在2019年第一季宣布减持总值3000亿美元／1.2兆令吉，包括马来西亚在内等10个新兴市场的政府债券。然而，该主权财富基金仍然维持投资多达146家大马上市公司。
基于由国家或政府所设立及拥有的主权财富基金（Sovereign Wealth Fund）持有庞大的资产，所以在金融市场有举足轻重的角色。金融市场参与者乃至各国政府都对主权财富基金的一举一动极为关注。
因此，主权财富基金也被称为“国家财富基金”或“社会财富基金”（Social Wealth Fund）。这是一个国家从贸易顺差所产生的盈余资金或和长期积累外汇储备。主权财富基金其他资金来源包括储备金、天然资源工业如石油的盈余收入、政府预算案中未使用的资金和政府转移支付。
举例而言，新加坡和中国是贸易长期顺差的国家，而依靠石油、天然气和矿产收入的国家则有：挪威、沙地阿拉伯和汶莱。主权财富基金的类型可以被分为稳定基金、未来基金、储备投资基金和养老金储备基金。
第一个主权财富基金是科威特投资局（Kuwait Investment Authority），成立于1953年。科威特政府设立该基金的目的是把石油收入用于投资赚取回报给下一代。
根据主权财富基金机构（Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute）最新的数据显示，全球95个最大的主权财富基金所持有的总资产高达8.3兆美元／34.14兆令吉。以总资产规模排名前十的主权财富基金除了来自欧洲的挪威政府全球养老基金，其它9家皆来自亚洲的东亚、东南亚和中东地区。
这些亚洲国家如中国和新加坡从兴盛的贸易积累了大量外汇储备，成立主权财富基金通过投资各类金融资产，增加投资收入。有些国家或经济体有一个以上的主权财富基金，例如东南亚唯一先进国——新加坡。
在全球十大主权财富基金中，就有两家来自新加坡，即分别排名第6和第7的新加坡政府投资机构和淡马锡控股。另外，马来西亚也有两家主权财富基金，即国库控股（Khazanah Nasional）和雇员公积金局（KWSP）。
由政府直接管理
各界对主权财富基金褒贬不一，赞同者认为主权财富基金带动资金流动使资本市场有丰裕的资金，进而促进世界经济发展。除此之外，在金融危机爆发时，主权财富基金也可扮演救助金融机构的角色。在2007年美国次级房贷危机爆发时，主权财富基金就把大量资金注入受到危机波及的金融机构，从而达到稳定金融市场的效用。
由于主权财富基金由政府直接管理，投资决策往往牵扯国家战略利益引发各国政府担忧。举例而言，美国政府对外国主权财富基金对美国具有战略意义的公司大量投资进行审查，防止相关技术和知识产权落入别国政府的手。
有鉴于主权财富基金规模如此庞大且代表国家利益，金融市场参与者也非常关注这些基金是否受到制约和规范。主权财富基金国际工作组（International Working Group of SWF）于2018年起草拟了《圣地亚哥原则》以规范主权财富基金。
制定《圣地亚哥原则》的目的是为了帮助维持全球金融体系的稳定，并确保资本和投资的自由流动，以及遵守主权财富基金投资国家所有适用的监管和披露要求。除此之外，该原则也是为了确保主权财富基金的投资是基于经济金融风险和收益相关考虑，并确保主权财富基金拥有透明和健全的治理结构，提供充分的运营控制、风险管理和问责制。
《认识主权财富基金》（Introduction to Sovereign Wealth Funds）原文：
Based on a report by Reuters in the first quarter of 2019, Norway's sovereign wealth fund (Government Pension Fund Global), the world's largest, has announced to cut its US$300 billion fixed-income portfolio including that of Malaysia and 9 other emerging markets. However, the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) continues to invest in as many as 146 Malaysian-listed companies.
Sovereign wealth funds play a pivotal role in the financial market because of their large holdings of assets. Every action taken by sovereign wealth funds is closely watched by the investors in the financial market.
Sovereign wealth funds are also known as "national wealth funds" or "social wealth funds". The funds are derived from the reserves of a country from its trade surplus or accumulated foreign exchange reserves over time. Other sources of funding for SWFs include reserves, excess revenues from natural resource sectors such as oil, unutilised funds from government budgets and government transfer payments.
For instance, Singapore and China have been running trade surpluses, while countries that rely on oil, gas and mineral revenues such as Norway, Saudi Arabia and Brunei. SWFs can be categorised into stabilization funds, future funds, reserve investment funds and pension reserve funds.
The first SWF, the Kuwait Investment Authority was established in 1953. The Kuwaiti government set up the fund to invest oil revenues to reap returns for the next generation. The world's 95 largest SWFs hold total assets of $8.3 trillion, according to the latest data from Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. Apart from Europe's Norwegian Pension Fund Global, the nine other Top 10 SWFs ranked by total assets are from Asia regions.
These Asian countries, such as China and Singapore, have accumulated large foreign reserves from booming trade, and the creation of sovereign wealth funds can help to increase investment income by investing in different asset classes.
Some countries or economies have more than one sovereign wealth fund, such as Singapore, the only advanced country in Southeast Asia. Two of the Top 10 SWFs are from Singapore: Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and Temasek Holdings, ranked sixth and seventh respectively. Malaysia also has two SWFs, namely Khazanah Nasional and Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja.
There are different views on SWFs from all walks of life. Supporters believe that SWFs drive the flow of capital and increase the liquidity of the financial market, thus contributing to the development of the world economy. In addition, when the financial crisis broke out, SWFs played the role to bailout financial institutions. When the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis broke out in 2007, SWFs injected large amounts of capital into the financial institutions affected by the crisis, thus achieving the effect of stabilizing the financial market.
Since SWFs are directly managed by governments, investment decisions often involve national strategic interests, causing concern among governments. For example, the U.S. government reviews large investments by foreign SWFs in strategically important U.S. companies to prevent technology and intellectual property from falling into the hands of other governments.
Given the size and national interest of sovereign wealth funds, financial market participants are concerned about whether these funds are subject to rules and regulation. The International Working Group of SWF has drafted the Santiago Principles in 2018 to regulate SWFs.
The Santiago Principles are designed to help maintain the stability of the global financial system and the free flow of capital and investment and to comply with all applicable regulatory and disclosure requirements in countries where sovereign wealth funds invest. In addition, this principle is also to ensure that SWFs' investments are based on economic and financial risks and returns, and SWFs have a transparent and sound governance structure that provides adequate operational control, risk management and accountability.
【作者】
▸庄太量教授
香港中文大学经济学系副教授，著有《人生炼金术的7大抉择》一书。他也在“庄教授经济人生”YouTube频道分享经济分析，内容涉及各地经济发展，楼市股市，经济政策建议，理财，科技，经济科课程及个人成长。
▸郑荣信
毕业于赛城多媒体大学经济学分析系，曾与大学教授在国际期刊共撰《投资者情绪如何影响大马股市》。热衷于研究行为经济学的理论和实践。在大马交易所开启金融职业生涯，现在一家证券行任职。
英文版：
▸Prof Terence Chong Tai Leung／Associate professor of economics
Prof Terence is an associate professor of economics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and author of a book entitled "Alchemy of Life". He also shares economic analysis on “Prof Terence Chong, The Economist” YouTube channel, covering local economic developments, property and stock markets, economic policy advice, financial management, technology, economics courses and personal growth.
▸Tey Eng Xin／Financial professional
He graduated with an Analytical Economics degree from Multimedia University, and he has co-authored "How Investor Sentiment Affects the Malaysian Stock Market" with his professors in an international academic journal. He is interested in studying the theory and practice of behavioral economics. He started his financial career at Bursa Malaysia and now he is working in a securities firm.
