by Ethiopis Tafara, Director, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate
Chairman Dodd, Senator Shelby, and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for inviting me to speak before today's hearing on the regulatory framework applicable to foreign government investment in the U.S. economy and financial sector.
I should state at the outset that, as Chairman Cox, Secretary Paulson, and others have noted on many occasions, the United States welcomes foreign investment. I know that is a view widely shared and supported by members of this Committee as well. You have asked me to speak to the particular issues that arise not from foreign investment, but from foreign government investment in the United States, from the standpoint of the Securities and Exchange Commission. There are some important differences between the two.
A bit of history to begin. As others have noted, government ownership of investment funds and businesses is not new, but the scale on which today's sovereign wealth funds and sovereign businesses are operating is new — as is their remarkable growth over the past few years. Today, sovereign wealth funds hold, by some estimates, more than $2.5 trillion in assets.
See full Testimony.
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