Britain welcomes sovereign wealth funds but others express concern
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The first guidelines for sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and their overseas investments will be drafted by October.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has set up a working group with 25 of its member states including China, the US, United Arab Emirates, and Russia.
The voluntary code is aimed at dispelling concerns about the size and influence of sovereign wealth funds.
US and EU politicians have called for the funds, mainly from Asia and the Middle East, to be more transparent.
'Investment principles'
The working group will be chaired by Jaime Caruana, director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets division and Hamad al Suwaidi, the director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which bought a £7.5bn stake in US bank Citigroup in November.
The group plans to agree on a "set of SWF principles that properly reflects their investment practices and objectives".
The guidelines will likely call on SWFs to invest on a purely commercial basis and to be more transparent about their motives for investing in individual businesses.
"Participants agreed that SWFs invest on the basis of economic and financial risk and return related considerations," the group said.
The IMF is expected to discuss the draft document before its annual meeting in October.
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One-Minute World News
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