With all these failures in bailing out US banks, what can we to expect? Open up the books and let Singaporeans see how much GIC had lost in these failed investments. 
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/article/8266.html
Singapore State Investment Fund Warns of Lower Returns
High returns obtained for 20 years by one of Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds will not be seen during the global credit crisis, the firm’s deputy chairman said on Monday.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corp., or GIC, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, announced in September that its nominal annual rate of return over the past 20 years was 7.8 percent in US dollar terms.
However, deputy chairman Tony Tan Keng Yam said similar profits were unlikely in the current economic climate.
“I do not expect GIC or any other large investor to be able to reproduce the type of high returns which GIC was able to deliver in the past 20 years,” Tan said in the Straits Times.
The company has bailed out international financial institutions hit by the economic turmoil. In late 2007 and early last year GIC injected billions of dollars into Swiss bank UBS as well as US banking giant Citigroup, which suffered massive losses from US subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage investments.
Subprime troubles later evolved into the worldwide financial slowdown. Governments and central banks have stepped in with stimulus packages and other measures to confront the crisis. If these measures work, the world’s economy could start to recover later this year, Tan said in the interview.
A recession that lasted into 2010, however, could be a sign of “systemic change in the world economy,” he said. In a weekend speech to the World Economic Forum of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Tan said sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors would play an important role in the stabilization and eventual recovery of asset markets.
AFP
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/article/8266.html
Singapore State Investment Fund Warns of Lower Returns
High returns obtained for 20 years by one of Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds will not be seen during the global credit crisis, the firm’s deputy chairman said on Monday.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corp., or GIC, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, announced in September that its nominal annual rate of return over the past 20 years was 7.8 percent in US dollar terms.
However, deputy chairman Tony Tan Keng Yam said similar profits were unlikely in the current economic climate.
“I do not expect GIC or any other large investor to be able to reproduce the type of high returns which GIC was able to deliver in the past 20 years,” Tan said in the Straits Times.
The company has bailed out international financial institutions hit by the economic turmoil. In late 2007 and early last year GIC injected billions of dollars into Swiss bank UBS as well as US banking giant Citigroup, which suffered massive losses from US subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage investments.
Subprime troubles later evolved into the worldwide financial slowdown. Governments and central banks have stepped in with stimulus packages and other measures to confront the crisis. If these measures work, the world’s economy could start to recover later this year, Tan said in the interview.
A recession that lasted into 2010, however, could be a sign of “systemic change in the world economy,” he said. In a weekend speech to the World Economic Forum of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Tan said sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors would play an important role in the stabilization and eventual recovery of asset markets.
AFP
