Corrupting Capitalism? Sovereign Wealth Funds and the United Kingdom's Regulatory Framework

摘要

The United Kingdom is one of the most open economies in the world and, according to the US General Accounting Office (GAO) 2008 Report, was ranked second to the United States in terms of the average value of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows worldwide between 2000 and 2006. In determining how best the United Kingdom should regulate sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) - major players in respect of FDI - this article addresses the logically prior question of the nature and extent of the United Kingdom's legal framework. Although there has been a great deal of discussion about the opportunities and risks posed by SWF activity, discussion of these pre-existing legal controls has been in the main overlooked in the relevant literature, leading to the misapprehension that SWF activity in the United Kingdom is largely unregulated. Accordingly, this article proceeds by way of an analysis of the framework within which SWF activity in the United Kingdom is governed. In doing so, it locates the discussion in the context of the United Kingdom's international commitments and relevant EU law, both of which constrain the United Kingdom's scope for law-making in this sphere. Despite the fact that the United Kingdom - unlike the United States - has no express regime which is directly targeted at SWFs, it emerges from the discussion that the United Kingdom has in fact a relatively well-stocked arsenal of measures which can combat unwanted SWF activities. In the light of this, and the potential risks posed by SWF activity, it is argued that what is needed is not necessarily additional legal machinery, but rather greater political willingness to make more effective use of those controls that the United Kingdom currently has at its disposal.