The world’s top 100 asset owners have increased their holdings to US$25.7 trillion ($38.4 trillion), according to the Thinking Ahead Institute.
In its fifth year, The Asset Owner 100–2022 found that total assets among the largest organisations had grown by 9 per cent as of end-2021, which is down from 16 per cent growth over the previous year.
Leading the way are pension funds, which control 56 per cent of total assets (down from 58 per cent), while sovereign wealth funds control 37 per cent (up from 35 per cent).
Six local entities have been named in the top 100, including Future Fund (ranked at 37), Australian Super (43), Aware Super (71), QSuper (85), N.M. Superannuation Proprietary Limited (94) and Tcorp (100).
The largest single asset owner is the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (US$1.7 trillion), with sovereign wealth funds Norges Bank Investment Management (US$1.4 trillion) and China Investment Corporation (US$1.2 trillion) close behind.
The top 20 asset owners are responsible for US$14.1 trillion, which equates to 55 per cent of the top 100.
Roger Urwin, co-founder of the Thinking Ahead Institute, said, “These big asset owners control the world’s most influential capital and hold great responsibility and growing influence in relation to their beneficiaries and a widening group of stakeholders.
“The research highlights that many of these asset owners act as universal owners — long-term, leadership-minded holders of portfolios that are exposed to the entire market and economy — and have a distinctive opportunity to contribute to real-world systemic change by contributing to a Paris-aligned future, consistent with net zero emissions by 2050.”
