Code test

The IMF will force sovereign funds to play according to the rules of the board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a report on the state and prospects for the development of sovereign investment funds last Friday. The main message of the document: sovereign funds should be as transparent as possible. Their investment strategy is to meet economic rather than political goals.

The content of the report almost repeats the contents of the commander of the European Commission of February 27, 2008 (for more details, see the newspaper for the same day). To achieve maximum transparency, the owners of sovereign funds are offered to disclose the mechanism of management of the fund, the size and structure of its investment portfolio, the principles of interaction between the fund and state structures. The authors of the report note an important role of sovereign funds in the conditions of the global financial crisis.

The neutral in general, the tone of the report was granted by the Russian Ministry of Finance, among the functions of which - the management of domestic sovereign funds, the reserve fund and the National Welfare Fund (FNB). The wards of Alexei Kudrin note: the authors of the report do not insist on creating a single code of conduct for the state funds. The Ministry of Finance has been opposed to its creation for a long time, stating that it is impossible to develop uniform rules for sovereign funds, given their different tasks and goals. "If you introduce the regulation of the activities of sovereign funds, then you can raise the question of the regulation of hedge funds and investment companies and thus regulate everything," the Ministry of Finance believes.

The discussion of the report written by the IMF specialists will continue on April 1 at the conference of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to its results, as expected, the IMF will be asked by October this year to develop a package of recommendations to ensure the transparency of sovereign funds.

Without waiting for the creation of a general code of conduct, Washington decided to take the initiative into his own hands. On Friday, the American Ministry of Finance signed agreements with the largest sovereign funds in the world of ADIA (UAE) and GIS (Singapore). Both funds pledged to be guided exclusively by economic goals in their activities. At the same time, Washington said that they continue to support the idea of a single code of sovereign funds.

Recall that among two Russian sovereign funds, only FNB funds can be kept in corporate papers. The Ministry of Finance states that it is planned to start using this tool no earlier than autumn this year. In this case, the FNB management functions can be transferred to a special created agency. The head of the VEB - Development Bank Vladimir Dmitriev proposed to transfer this function to his bank.

03/23/2008 / Maxim Tovkailo, the material was published in the "newspaper" No. 52 dated 03.24.2008.