The Legal Background of Sovereign Wealth Funds and Their Role in National Economies

Abstract

Sovereign wealth funds (SWF) are a type of fund which are established and operated by the state. They came into the limelight after the financial crises of 2007–08, when they saved the most emblematic listed companies in the USA and Europe. The aim of the article is to explore certain key issues related to sovereign wealth funds. The paper discusses the origins of the term and certain related economic concepts, including factors which resulted in the creation of sovereign wealth funds. The legal background is also elaborated on both international and national levels, giving an insight to the regulatory framework. The article closes with propounding a sovereign wealth fund in Hungary based on the National Investment Agency model proposed by Hockett and Omarova. This section gives an overview of state property management and its legal background. The increasing activity in the management of international reserves by the National Bank of Hungary and the expansion of the regulatory background for trust-like institutions are all pointing towards the possibility of a Hungarian sovereign wealth fund.