GIC has hired a big data expert as it expands computer-driven investments through a quantitative group started earlier this year. The Singapore sovereign wealth fund appointed Mr Michael Recce in the newly created role of chief data scientist last month to work in the GIC Data and Analytics Department, according to a spokesman.
Mr Recce, a former associate professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, is focusing on collecting publicly available data and analysing them for patterns………………………………………..Full Article: Source

New Zealand Super Fund senior investment strategist Sue Brake has left the NZ$31.6 (AU$29.5) billion sovereign wealth fund to join Willis Towers Watson as a senior investment consultant. Brake is bucking a trend that has seen consultants, such as Leigh Gavin and Robb Hogg, move to in-house roles with institutional investors over the past two years reflecting the trend for more super funds to increase their internal capacities.
Director of investments for Willis Towers Watson in Australia, Martin Goss said Brake has specialist experience in organisational design and governance, strategy and portfolio construction. Brake has also worked as an external expert to the International Monetary Fund, advising nations on the establishment and the management of sovereign wealth funds…………………………………Full Article: Source

Lim Chow Kiat has been appointed as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Singaporean sovereign wealth fund (SWF) GIC Private Ltd (GIC), effective from January 1, 2017. Lim is currently the deputy group president and group chief investment officer (CIO) at the SWF. “As I take on this bigger role, I will continue to be guided by the values of our pioneers, particularly that of long-termism,” the new CEO told Singapore’s Business Times.
Lim joined GIC in 1993 as a portfolio manager upon graduation at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. He was then promoted to head of fixed income, currency and commodities, before becoming deputy president of GIC Asset Management in 2008…………………………………Full Article: Source

US President Barack Obama alluded to the 1MDB case during his speech at the Lima Convention Centre, in Peru, on Nov 20, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today. In talking about the need to improve and maintain the world order, Obama said everyone had to do their part as there were limits to the reach of the US into other countries which oppressed their people or “siphon all development funds into Swiss bank accounts because they are corrupt”.
Obama, however, did not mention 1MDB or Malaysia. In his latest blog posting, Mahathir said Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was also there, “must have heard it…………………………………Full Article: Source

The Norwegian wealth fund’s chief investment officer for asset strategies, Oeyvind Schanke, is to leave the fund to head Norwegian investment fund Skagen, Skagen said in a statement on Tuesday.
Schanke had been in his current position since Oct. 2014, joining the fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund in 2001 as a trader. He will begin at Skagen on Feb. 1 2017, said the statement………………………………………Full Article: Source

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is set to lose one of its most senior investment executives, as Øyvind Schanke becomes the new chief executive at the country’s best-known active investment manager.
Schanke has been with Norges Bank Investment Management, which runs the $858 billion sovereign fund, since 2001 and was promoted to chief investment officer for asset strategies in 2014; a role giving him broad oversight of the fund’s equity and fixed income portfolios………………………………………Full Article: Source

Rising political risk exemplified by such events as the election of Donald Trump and the U.K. vote to leave the European Union will be boon to managers that make active choices when managing their bond and stock portfolio, said the incoming chief executive officer of Norway’s Skagen Funds.
“The time has come again to think active management,” Oyvind Schanke, who’s currently one of three chief investment officers at Norway’s $850 billion sovereign wealth fund, said in a phone interview from Stavanger. “We’re getting to a crossroads here, with more and more opportunities. The more money that goes into passive management, the bigger opportunities for very active funds like Skagen.”……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Yeo Jiawei, a former BSI banker had amassed S$26m ($14.7m) in the 15 months after he left the Swiss private bank in Singapore, a court was told on Tuesday (22 November). Prior to that, Yeo’s net worth was only S$2m.
Prosecutors claim that the wealth Yeo had amassed came through funds earned via “illicit means” and the “taking of secret profits” in transactions linked to the Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)………………………………………Full Article: Source

The only way former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei could earn $23.9 million in less than 15 months was by taking “secret profits” linked to a money-laundering scam involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), prosecutors contended.
The allegations came on the final day of Yeo’s 12-day trial on four charges of obstructing justice. District Judge Ng Peng Hong will deliver the verdict on Dec 21. The prosecution’s cross-examination of Yeo focused on the “illicit” wealth he allegedly accumulated during and after leaving BSI………………………………….Full Article: Source

One of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds has chosen a new chief executive as it braces for a decade of lower earnings. GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, has hired Lim Chow Kiat to be its new boss, overseeing $100bn in assets spanning 40 countries.
Lim is an old hand at the organisation, joining after he graduated from university in 1993 and most recently serving as deputy president and chief investment officer…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte has appointed Lim Chow Kiat as chief executive officer as part of a leadership transition that includes new roles for several managers.
Lim, 46, will assume the newly created CEO role effective Jan. 1 and Jeffrey Jaensubhakij, 50, will replace him as group chief investment officer, GIC said in an e-mailed statement. Lim Siong Guan, 69, will retire as group president and be appointed adviser to the GIC group executive committee…………………………………….Full Article: Source

The appointment of seasoned investor Lim Chow Kiat as the chief executive officer of GIC comes as the Singapore sovereign wealth fund is facing a slower rate of returns. And a range of challenges lies ahead for Mr Lim, given the increasing volatility across the world.
“We still don’t really know what the fallout from Brexit is going to be like, and we are still speculating about the impact of a Trump presidency on global markets, including Singapore,” said CIMB Private Bank economist Song Seng Wun…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kirill Dmitriev hails likely business opportunities. The head of a leading Russian sovereign wealth fund has hailed Donald Trump’s election victory as a new opportunity for Moscow to do business with the US.
“We believe having a businessman in the White House who makes pragmatic decisions is very important,” Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund, told the Financial Times in an interview. “We believe what is great about president-elect Trump is that he is open-minded about Russia.”……………………………………Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), its main sovereign wealth fund, announced on Thursday it had filled key posts as part of plans to expand investment capacity and help reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil income.
Under economic reform plans announced early this year, the government has said it aims eventually to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the country, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion and increase investments abroad. The PIF did not name the people it had appointed, but LinkedIn profiles showed at least five financial professionals had begun working at the Fund in the last several weeks……………………………………Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), its main sovereign wealth fund, said on Thursday it had filled key posts as part of plans to expand investment capacity and help reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil income.
Under economic reform plans announced early this year, the government has said it aims eventually to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the country, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion and increase investments abroad. The PIF did not name the people it had appointed, but LinkedIn profiles showed at least five financial professionals had begun working at the Fund in the last several weeks……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Private equity firms are charging far too much in fees and are not investing enough of their own money in the deals they do, according to a former head of private investments at one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.
Georges Sudarskis, formerly chief of the private investment programme at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, said that the current private equity fund model is a “rigged arrangement”. Sudarskis, who led Adia’s private investment programme between 1998 and 2009, said that fund managers’ and investors’ interests are no longer aligned……………………………………..Full Article: Source

The sentencing of an opposition politician is just the latest attempt to cover up a deepening 1MDB scandal. A chorus of international outrage was struck immediately after the sentencing of opposition politician Rafizi Ramli for disclosing part of the Auditor General’s report into the 1MDB corruption scandal, which has severely damaged Malaysia’s reputation in business and politics.
London-based Amnesty International immediately called for the 18-month sentence to be quashed, arguing Rafizi had acted in the public interest by bringing to light information about one of the biggest corruption scandals in Malaysia’s recent history…………………………………….Full Article: Source

In an interview with a Japanese weekly, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was the first to order an investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). In an interview published in the Nikkei Asian Review yesterday, he said the Malaysian authorities have led investigations into 1MDB.
“It was I who first instructed multiple authorities in Malaysia to conduct investigations,” he stated. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General, the police and the bipartisan Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee have conducted probes…………………………………….Full Article: Source

As per reports, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund and businessman Mansour Ojjeh, who hold 75 percent of shares, want to oust Ron Dennis. McLaren chief executive Ron Dennis is fighting a move by other shareholders to force him out, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said.
Sky News reported on Friday that Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and Saudi-born businessman Mansour Ojjeh, who between them hold 75 percent of the shares, wanted to oust Dennis. The report said an unidentified consortium of Chinese investors had made a 1.65 billion pounds ($2.08 billion) takeover bid for McLaren Technology Group that Dennis supported but the other shareholders opposed…………………………………….Full Article: Source

A number of messages were telegraphed to media from asset owners globally following the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election. In the run up to the election, sovereign wealth funds, such as GIC Private Limited, Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), continued investing in a wide range of assets from infrastructure to office properties in core cities.
By analyzing the after effects of the Brexit vote, SWFI research believes wealth funds will continue to invest in the United States, but may alter what sectors or asset classes they choose to invest into………………………………………Full Article: Source

Singapore’s white-collar crime unit for the first time on Thursday identified Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho as a key figure in the money laundering investigation linked to scandal-tainted 1MDB fund. The revelation came from an investigator during the trial of a former wealth manager of Swiss private bank BSI in Singapore’s most high-profile money laundering case.
Low is also among the people named in civil lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleged that more than $3.5 billion was allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB………………………………………Full Article: Source

After seven months in remand and eight days in the dock, former BSI wealth planner Yeo Jiawei had his day in court. Yeo, 33, took the witness stand Thursday (Nov 10) afternoon and immediately distanced himself from former colleagues and business associates also implicated in Singapore’s 1MDB probe.
He insisted he never negotiated secret million-dollar deals or facilitated illicit transactions, “unlike what has been said by the (prosecution’s) witnesses”. “I was just taking instructions. They know I didn’t have negotiating powers … or the authority to negotiate,” Yeo said………………………………………Full Article: Source

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Wednesday he believed Donald Trump’s presidential victory would reduce geopolitical confrontations. “A less confrontational U.S. foreign policy will unlock major opportunities for joint (Russia-U.S.) trade and investment,” Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said in a statement.
Dmitriev said he believed financial markets would recover quickly “just as they did after the Brexit vote.”……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Fullerton Fund Management, the Singapore-based asset manager backed by Temasek Holdings, said chief executive officer Manraj Sekhon has left the firm.
The decision was announced by the Fullerton board on Tuesday and is with immediate effect, the investment firm said yesterday in an e-mailed response to Bloomberg queries. Sekhon, who also served as chief investment officer, had been in his role for more than five years………………………………………Full Article: Source

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is apparently US president-elect Donald Trump’s golfing buddy and “favourite Prime Minister”. Given the ties between the two men, some observers expect the relationship between Muslim-majority Malaysia and the US to remain good despite Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric during his bitterly fought campaign.
“Next to the prime minister’s chair in his office is a photo of him and Trump. It is signed by Trump with the words “To my favourite Prime Minister”, a Malaysian government source told This Week in Asia. “They are golfing buddies,” he said, adding the picture was taken “not too long ago”………………………………………Full Article: Source

A Wall Street Journal journalist was kicked out of a 1MDB information session in Sydney, believed to have been organised by Special Affairs Department (Jasa).
“Just got kicked out of a ‘public’ event where 1MDB’s Arul Kanda (was) explaining the controversy to Malaysian students in Sydney,” WSJ Sydney bureau deputy chief Rachel Pannett said on Twitter. Her colleague Tom Wright added only Malaysian students are allowed to ask questions at the event…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi believes Datuk Seri Najib Razak should get the chance to resolve the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy and restore stability in the country. In Abdullah’s authorised biography Being Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, author Datuk Wong Sulong said that Abdullah had publicly endorsed Najib by agreeing to launch a book commemorating the latter’s 40 years in politics in February this year.
“Against this swirling and dramatic political conundrum, Abdullah feels that Najib should be given an opportunity to clear up the 1MDB mess and to restore political and economic stability to the country,” Wong wrote………………………………………Full Article: Source

A private banker on trial in Singapore for his alleged role in Malaysia’s 1MDB fund scandal worked closely with a friend of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, a court heard Tuesday.
A prosecution witness told a district court that Singaporean Yeo Jiawei, 33, left his job at the local branch of Swiss bank BSI in 2014 to work with Low Taek Jho, a family friend of the Malaysian leader, and they conducted business in a secretive way……………………………………Full Article: Source

Wealth manager Yeo Jiawei went to work with or for financier Jho Low after leaving BSI Bank, his one-time boss testified. A witness linked a former private banker on trial here to a young financier global investigators say was at the center of the misappropriation of billions of dollars from Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB.
Wealth manager Yeo Jiawei, 33, went to work with or for the financier, Jho Low, after leaving BSI Bank Ltd. in Singapore in 2014, his one-time boss Kevin Swampillai testified in court……………………………………Full Article: Source

Singapore has begun the trial of a former private banker charged with money laundering and other offenses in connection with the indebted Malaysian state fund 1MDB. Yeo Jiawei, a former wealth planner at Swiss private bank BSI, is facing 11 charges for allegedly obstructing the course of justice, money laundering, cheating, and forgery.
BSI was closed down in May due to serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, among other problems. Investigators in Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the U.S. have been probing allegations that people close to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stole more than $1 billion from 1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Bhd………………………………………Full Article: Source

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has said that debts accumulated by 1MDB are not considered government debts. “Debts (accumulated) by 1MDB and their related projects are not classified as federal government debts.
“Therefore, debts accumulated by 1MDB and their related projects do not contribute to government debts,” said the finance minister. Najib said this in a written parliamentary reply to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, who had asked the finance minister to state the debt-to-GDP ratio for both 2015 and 2016, and also to state the debts contributed by 1MDB and related projects………………………………………Full Article: Source

Dong-Sinh Ngo joined the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as chief representative, Asia-Pacific, based in the sovereign wealth fund’s new Hong Kong office, said a spokesman. The position is new.
ADIA Hong Kong is a platform for the fund to broaden and deepen its relationships and identify new opportunities in China and other key Asian markets. Professionals in the office will also assist in identifying new cooperation opportunities and growth in the region……………………………………Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, is looking to finally privatise many of its assets, after a series of false starts. The current privatisation push entails the transition of assets currently belonging to [the country’s sovereign wealth fund] Samruk-Kazyna towards a more competitive environment.
The 44 largest companies in our portfolio will be largely privatised through initial public offerings [IPOs], in both the local and foreign markets. The percentage of capital on sale will vary case by case. It could be about 20% to 25%; although for assets where foreign investors are already part of the ownership structure, as is the case with [flagship air carrier] Air Astana, we will be looking to become minority shareholders…………………………………..Full Article: Source

It’s getting ugly at the big end of town. Telstra Corp chairman John Mullen has launched a spirited defence of his predecessor Catherine Livingstone giving former Future Fund chairman David Murray a broadside in the process.
At the Australian Financial Review’s Chanticleer lunch in Melbourne, Mr Mullen called for a greater unity of voice from the business community in the face of growing populism…………………………………..Full Article: Source

The fact that the former second finance minister had to ask parliament 1MDB-related questions suggests that only the prime minister has all the answers on the state investment firm. Commenting on Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah’s 1MDB-related queries in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, DAP lawmaker Tony Pua said he found it strange that the former minister had to raise the matter in parliament.
“Wouldn’t he have known all the facts as he was the second finance minister during the time? Does this mean that he was never even briefed about 1MDB? “1MDB seems to be a top secret operation that only one person in the cabinet knows, the prime minister, who is also the finance minister,” the Petaling Jaya Utara member of parliament said…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Former second finance minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah, who reportedly said handling 1MDB issues previously made him ill, has turned around to question the fund’s dealings in Parliament.
Ahmad Husni, who is also the MP for Tambun, said he was questioning its dealings because he was concerned allegations of financial wrongdoings linked to the state-owned investment fund, would negatively impact global perception of Malaysia…………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund has appointed a former China Everbright Group veteran as its vice president, Caixin has learned. Liu Jun, former deputy general manager of China Everbright Group, joined China Investment Corp. (CIC) on Friday, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Liu, 44, first joined China Everbright Bank, which is controlled by China Everbright Group, in the 1990s as a currency trader and rose through the ranks over two decades. He was appointed as executive vice president of the bank in 2010, the youngest vice president in the bank’s history. In 2014, he was promoted to deputy general manager of the group………………………………………Full Article: Source

The Home Ministry is keeping mum on whether or not police have questioned businessman Low Taek Jho (popularly known as Jho Low) and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s stepson Riza Aziz on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
In a written reply to Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin in the Dewan Rakyat, the ministry did not say if police had summoned the two men for questioning in its 1MDB probe. Sim had asked if Jho Low and Riza are still in Malaysia or have left the country, and whether the duo have been summoned by the police for questioning……………………………………Full Article: Source

American actor and climate change activist Leonardo DiCaprio has vowed to return any gifts or donations made to him or any of his ventures if they are found to have come from Malaysia’s sovereign fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
1MDB is currently under investigation by various governments, including the US Department of Justice, over money laundering and corruption allegations. In his first public comment on the investigations into 1MDB, DiCaprio said that he was cooperating with US authorities to determine whether money received by any of his charitable foundations had come from questionable sources……………………………………Full Article: Source

Former Howard government treasurer Peter Costello has warned that Australia’s financial position is “not strong” and that returns from the Future Fund he chairs will be weaker.
Speaking to The Business presenter Ticky Fullerton at a Walkley Foundation function, Mr Costello defended his record as treasurer, and issued a warning to his latest successor Scott Morrison. “Our financial position in Australia at the moment is not strong,” Mr Costello lamented. “We are now in our ninth year in a row of budget deficit.”……………………………………Full Article: Source

This summer, Leonardo DiCaprio’s charity was publicly linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal by the Department of Justice. Now, as pressure from the international community mounts, the A-lister’s non-profit has released a statement explaining that they intend to return some of the funds in question:
“Several months ago in July, Mr. DiCaprio first learned through press reports of the government’s civil action against some of the parties involved in the making of The Wolf of Wall Street,” the statement says, via The Hollywood Reporter…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia and Japan’s SoftBank Group will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the world’s largest private equity investors and a potential kingpin in the industry.
The project will be led for SoftBank by Rajeev Misra, the group’s head of strategic finance and who joined the Japanese firm in 2014 from Fortress Investment Group, a private equity and hedge fund group. Saudi Arabia’s top sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will engage its own team……………………………………..Full Article: Source

1MDB is a scandal that has it all: secret bank accounts, corrupt politicians, Swiss bankers, a Hollywood star and an army of investigators hunting them down.
Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia, is one of the key figures behind the 1MDB scandal. He came up with the idea of creating a state fund, the Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB), to further the development of the Asian country. Today, it seems clear that he and his second wife, Rosmah Mansor, used the fund to enrich themselves……………………………………..Full Article: Source

The public investment fund of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, is considering investing as much as $45 billion over the next five years in the new SoftBank Vision Fund, according to an announcement made on Thursday. SoftBank itself plans on investing at least $25 billion over the next five years in the fund.
“The Public Investment Fund is focused on achieving attractive long-term financial returns from its investments at home and abroad, as well as supporting the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy to develop a diversified economy,” Prince Mohammed said in a statement……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore authorities charged two ex-BSI SA bank employees in a case linked to an embattled Malaysian investment fund at the center of international probes, accusing them of failing to disclose suspicious transactions involving a high-living financier.
Yak Yew Chee, a former private banker for 1Malaysia Development Bhd. and financier Low Taek Jho, faces seven charges including for forgery, according to court papers filed on Monday. Yak’s former subordinate Yvonne Seah Yew Foong was also charged in the same Singapore state court. The two, who didn’t enter any pleas, were allowed bail of S$35,000 ($25,500) each………………………………….Full Article: Source

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd hired veteran Goldman Sachs dealmaker John Vaske as joint head, North America, effective Jan. 16.
Vaske has worked with Goldman Sachs for 28 years and is currently co-chairman of global mergers and acquisitions……………………………………Full Article: Source

Norway may tighten guidelines for spending cash from its $890 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, Prime Minister Erna Solberg told public broadcaster NRK said.
The sovereign wealth fund invests the proceeds from Norway’s revenues from oil and gas production in foreign stocks, bonds and real estate. Its value corresponds to about $170,000 for every Norwegian man, woman and child………………………………….Full Article: Source

Cairo- AbdulMagid AbdulSalam Breish, Chairman and CEO of the Libyan Investment Authority in Tripoli, revealed to Asharq al-Awsat that several meetings were held with Tobruk LIA Chairman Fawzi Omran Farkash in the past few weeks.
According to Breish, these discussions represent an integral part of the efforts exerted to resolve the conflict between the administrations in Tripoli and Torbuk. Breish said: “Major outcomes of these discussions were: cooperation to reassure continuity of international immobilization, maintaining majority of LIA assets (around USD67 billion) until it’s time to stop immobilization.”…………………………………Full Article: Source

Augustus Ralph Marshall, the trusted key aide to T. Ananda Krishnan – Malaysia’s second-richest man – has left all posts in the sprawling cross-media empire as of end September, several sources told the Asia Sentinel.
Marshall has been under investigation in the past few years in India and Indonesia over joint ventures by Malaysia’s dominant satellite television provider Astro and cellular provider Maxis, both part of Ananda Krishnan’s business empire………………………………………Full Article: Source

ClearMacro has launched the world’s first robo-research platform, enabling institutional investors to independently optimise thier asset allocation decisions. The robo-advisor, which was launched on 27 September, hasn’t yet attracted any paying clients from the pensions industry.
ClearMacro was established by Mike Simcock, who is also the company’s CEO. Simcock was previously head of fixed income, Europe, at Singapore’s giant GIC sovereign wealth fund, which has assets under management of more than €90 billion………………………………………Full Article: Source