The grade map
All 100 institutions, graded A–F on eight public-evidence disclosure criteria (rubric v1.0):
A: fully verifiable from public documents · F: effectively unverifiable. Full rubric in the methodology.
The verification gap
The largest concentration of investable capital in history belongs to governments — and a striking share of it cannot be verified from public sources. Of the 100 institutions graded, 11 earn a disclosure grade of F, together representing roughly $5.841T: no published assets, no audited accounts, no holdings, no returns. SAFE Investment Company scores zero out of sixteen on an estimated $1.8 trillion. ADIA publishes an annual review without a single financial statement. Kuwait’s KIA is barred by law from disclosing at all.
The counterexample is just as striking: public pension funds dominate the top of the grade table — 41 institutions earn an A, holding $13.752T, and six score a perfect 16/16 (CalPERS, CPP Investments, CalSTRS, NBIM, Alaska’s APFC, NZ Super).
The numbers everyone cites are stale
The commonly cited figures for the world’s biggest investors run twelve to eighteen months behind the institutions’ own publications. Verification against primary documents corrected the folklore repeatedly:
| Institution | Commonly cited | The record |
|---|---|---|
| Brunei Investment Agency | ~$170B | ~$73B — current attributed estimates |
| SCIC (Vietnam) | ~$50B | ~$3B book value in its separate financial statements |
| NWF (Russia) | $159B headline | only $46B of it liquid |
| Pula Fund (Botswana) | ~$4B | ~$2.1B after a year of drawdowns |
| ICD (Dubai) | ~$320B on older lists | $458B† audited consolidated assets, end-2025 |
In the other direction, Panama’s savings fund roughly doubled on new contributions. Closing this gap is the reason the Almanack exists.
The 2026 repricing of state capital
The AI-driven equity rally is repricing state capital at historic speed. Korea’s NPS returned 27.2% in six months as domestic semiconductor holdings doubled, crossing $1.2 trillion. Taiwan’s Bureau of Labor Funds returned 28.5% in the same period; Sweden’s AP7 17.9%. Japan’s GPIF booked a record ¥24.1 trillion quarterly gain, and Norway’s fund became the first sovereign fund above $2 trillion. CalPERS returned 14.8%, CalSTRS 13.9%, New York City’s systems 13%.
The map itself is being redrawn: Indonesia consolidated ~$900 billion of state assets into Danantara, Abu Dhabi folded ADQ into the new L’IMAD Holding, Sweden wound up AP1 and split its assets between AP3 and AP4, and Ireland stood up two brand-new sovereign funds. The largest three institutions alone — NBIM ($2.285T), GPIF ($1.956T), SAFE IC ($1.840T) — now hold more than the GDP of every country but two.
The ten largest, verified
| # | Institution | Country | AUM | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norges Bank Investment Management (Government Pension Fund Global)NBIM · Sovereign wealth fund · est. 1998 |  Norway | $2.285T sourced ↗as of 2026-06-30 | A |
| 2 | Government Pension Investment FundGPIF · Public pension fund · est. 2006 |  Japan | $1.956T sourced ↗as of 2026-06-30 | A |
| 3 | SAFE Investment CompanySAFE IC · Sovereign wealth fund · est. 1997 |  China | $1.840T est. ↗as of 2026-05 | F |
| 4 | China Investment CorporationCIC · Sovereign wealth fund · est. 2007 | China | $1.370T sourced ↗as of 2024-12-31 | B |
| 5 | National Pension ServiceNPS · Public pension fund · est. 1988 |  South Korea | $1.203T sourced ↗as of 2026-06-30 | A |
| 6 | Abu Dhabi Investment AuthorityADIA · Sovereign wealth fund · est. 1976 |  United Arab Emirates | $1.187T est. ↗as of 2026-05 | F |
| 7 | Kuwait Investment AuthorityKIA · Sovereign wealth fund · est. 1953 |  Kuwait | $1.002T est. ↗as of 2026-05 | F |
| 8 | GIC Private LimitedGIC · Sovereign wealth fund · est. 1981 |  Singapore | $936B est. ↗as of 2026-05 | D |
| 9 | Public Investment FundPIF · Sovereign wealth fund · est. 1971 |  Saudi Arabia | $906B sourced ↗as of 2025-12-31 | B |
| 10 | Daya Anagata NusantaraDanantara · Strategic/development fund · est. 2025 |  Indonesia | $900B† est. ↗as of 2026-02 | F |
† Consolidated holding-company or total-fund basis — broader than portfolio AUM and not directly comparable; see entry notes.
Why an independent scoreboard
Private-capital data has consolidated into the hands of the firms it measures. BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, completed its acquisition of Preqin — the primary private-markets database — in March 2025. PitchBook has belonged to Morningstar since 2016.
Capital Almanack manages no money, advises no one, holds no client assets, and accepts no payment from any institution it covers. Grades and ranks cannot be bought. This edition is free to read and free to cite.
About the data
Every figure in this edition carries a primary source, an as-of date, its original currency, and the exchange rate used (ECB reference rates at the figure’s date). Institutions that do not disclose appear only as clearly attributed third-party estimates, marked “est.” Consolidated holding companies are marked † and are not directly comparable to portfolio investors. Disclosure grades use rubric v1.0, scored 0–2 on eight public-evidence criteria. We accept written corrections with supporting documents and publish a changelog.
Cite as: Capital Almanack, “The Sovereign 100: 2026”, capitalalmanack.com/report.html
Corrections & updates
Represent one of these institutions — or know the numbers better than we do? Send corrections or newer figures with supporting documents. Verified updates are applied within one business day and credited in a public changelog — institutions that engage are how this record stays accurate.
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