LONDON: A majority of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds lack transparency and adequate governance, with those in the Gulf region scoring particularly low, according to a report published by political risk group GeoEconomica.

Geneva-based GeoEc-onomica, an independent political-risk research firm, assessed 31 sovereign wealth funds with a total of $4 trillion worth of assets for their compliance with the Santiago Principles, a voluntary code of practice on governance and transparency.

“Numerous funds, most notably from the Gulf region, still need to substantially advance their financial disclosure policies and become more transparent about governance arrangements,” GeoEconomica said in its Santiago Compliance Index, which it has published annually for the past three years.

Nine sovereign funds were considered fully compliant and another nine broadly compliant. But eight fulfilled only part of their commitments and lacked robust financial information like audited statements and balance sheets or performance benchmarks, the study found.

China, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign funds and Singapore’s GIC Private Ltd make up four of the five largest funds in the world and have been ranked as partially compliant. The world’s largest — Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global with $841 billion — is fully compliant, GeoEconomica said.

The Qatar Investment Authority — number sixth in the world — was singled out as the only non-compliant sovereign wealth fund and deficient in most principles. The fund declined to comment on the findings.

Published in Dawn, October 29th , 2014