Government of Singapore Investment Corporation - Governance and Risk Management

Governance and Risk Management

The funds managed by GIC are owned by the Singapore Government. Its investment returns supplement the country’s annual budget in areas such as education, R&D, health care and physical environment.

As a Fifth Schedule company under the Singapore Constitution, GIC is accountable in various key areas to the President of Singapore who is empowered under the constitution to obtain information to enable him to safeguard the country's reserves. The Auditor-General, who is appointed by the President of Singapore, submits an annual report to the President and Parliament on his audit of the Government and other bodies managing public funds.

GIC manages risk by investing in a well-diversified portfolio, with a balanced distribution of asset classes and their underlying business sectors and geographies. This, too, is why GIC's performance has to be measured on the basis of its overall portfolio rather than by how much it makes or loses on individual investments. Its approach to “risk management” has three distinct components: portfolio risk; process risk and people risk.

As a member of the International Working Group of SWFs that developed the Santiago Principles in October 2008, GIC publishes how it adopts and implements the voluntary set of principles and practices.