A plain-English glossary of the language of long-term institutional capital: the funds, the allocation frameworks, the governance terms, and the climate and megatrend risks that universal asset owners care about. Each term links to a fuller explainer.
The total portfolio approach is a way of running a fund as one portfolio competing for risk, rather than as fixed asset-class buckets. Here is how it works, how it differs from strategic asset allocation, and what it demands of governance.
Our research hub on sovereign wealth funds: definitions, the league table, governance and the Santiago Principles, fund types, and how state capital invests across public and private markets.
A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment vehicle that manages national wealth for long-term goals. Here is what that means, the main types, and how SWFs differ from central-bank reserves and public pensions.
Our research hub on the structural forces that shape returns over a sovereign or pension investor's multi-decade horizon: sovereign AI and AI infrastructure, energy security, critical minerals, supply chains, food, demographics, fiscal sustainability and deglobalisation.
Sovereign AI is the drive by nations to control their own AI compute, data and models. Sovereign wealth funds are now central financiers of it. Here is what the term means and what the build-out implies for long-term investors, with the usual caveats on fast-moving figures.
The Santiago Principles are 24 voluntary standards for how sovereign wealth funds are governed, disclosed and invested. Here is what they cover, why they were created in 2008, and how they are used today.
A dated, methodology-noted view of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, why the rankings differ between sources, and what the league table does and does not tell you. Figures are approximate and require verification before use.
Global asset owners are the institutions that hold the world's long-term capital and bear its ultimate investment risk: pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations and insurers. Here is what unites them and how they differ from asset managers.
Our research hub on global asset owners: who holds the world's long-term capital, the allocation frameworks they use such as the total portfolio approach, and how they invest across private markets, infrastructure and real assets.
Energy transition infrastructure spans the generation, grids, storage and electrified demand of a lower-carbon energy system. Global investment passed two trillion dollars a year in the mid-2020s. Here is what it covers and why it suits long-horizon owners, with dated figures.
Our research hub on climate, nature and the energy transition as financial risks for long-horizon investors: systemic and physical risk, transition risk, net-zero portfolios, nature and natural capital, and how owners respond.