ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of the emergence of SWFs as a relevant global investor class, focusing on Gulf Arab sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). The emergence of the Santiago Principles in the chapter provides the context for a subsequent assessment of the governance and transparency standards of Gulf Arab SWFs, which in turn is compared with the compliance performance of SWFs from other countries. The chapter explores several hypotheses that could possibly be used to explain the strikingly low commitment of Gulf Arab SWFs to the Santiago Principles. The concerns of Gulf Arab policy makers and those from other emerging economies were subsequently directed into an initiative that would result in a voluntary code of principles for SWFs. The chapter examines a number of explanatory or independent variables against the Santiago Compliance Index. It suggests that there is a link between governance and democratic standards prevailing in Gulf Arab domestic politics and compliance with the Santiago Principles.
