With assets managed by SWFs estimated at 3,000 billion dollars, this category of investors represents twice the value of assets managed by hedge funds. 1 It is estimated that they will continue to grow in the future, to reach from 12,000 to 15,000 billion dollars, depending on estimates, in 2015. Consequently, they play and will continue to play an increasing role in the global financial system. As SWFs have long-term and diversified investment strategies and are not subject to sudden fund withdrawals by customers, they are usually considered to have a stabilising effect on the global financial system, despite their lack of transparency. Consequently, developed countries have an interest in attracting their investments. During the crisis, the behaviour of SWFs has differed according to the country of origin, but in general, it appears that their tendency to invest more than before in domestic and regionally close markets during the first stage of the crisis has come to an end, and that they have now resumed investing principally in OECD economies. 2 This is particularly true for Gulf sovereign funds, where diversified domestic investment opportunities are scarcer than for Asian sovereign funds, for example. In the first quarter of this year, Europe was by far the leading destination for Middle-Eastern and North African SWF investment. 3 Muslim countries, in particular oil-exporting ones, represent as much as 51% of total sovereign wealth funds’ assets.
Banking services coverage: international comparison 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0  Adult population with debit or credit card (percent) 90  Debit  Adult population with savings in financial institutions (percent)  Credit  80 Saving accounts (% of pop > 15 yo)  70 Cards (% of pop > 15 yo)  Accounts in financial institutions (% of pop > 15 yo)  Adult population with any type of account in a financial institution (percent)  60 50 40 30 20 10 0  OECD High Middle Low  LAC  OECD High  Low  Slide 7  50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 LAC  OECD High  Low  All figures at the end of 2014. Source: SBIF (2016), “Financial Inclusion Report in Chile 2016”. [SLIDE 7] In middle and low-income countries, the proportion of population holding any type of account in a supervised financial institution under supervision amount to 37% and 20%, respectively. These figures are far below the 92% and 90% of OECD countries and high-income countries. The use of bank-intermediated debit and credit cards and savings in financial institutions follows a similar pattern. [SLIDE 8] Insurance services contribute to deepen the financial system due to their long-run investment perspective. Both life and non-life insurance is far less extended in emerging markets compared to high-income OECD countries.