"Sovereign wealth funds have been a beneficial source of capital for U.S. financial institutions," Fed Board General Counsel Scott Alvarez said in prepared remarks to a U.S. House of Representatives financial services subcommittee.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sovereign wealth funds are growing fast but have been in the United States for years and recent high-profile injections into U.S. banks have been welcome, a senior Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday.
"Sovereign wealth funds have been a beneficial source of capital for U.S. financial institutions," Fed Board General Counsel Scott Alvarez said in prepared remarks to a U.S. House of Representatives financial services subcommittee.
Noting sovereign wealth funds had pumped $24 billion into U.S. financial companies, Alvarez said none of these investments had breached the 10 percent controlling threshold that would trigger an automatic Fed review.
"Most sovereign wealth funds, like many other investments ... have structured their investments so as not to trigger the threshold for review and approval ... and have designed their investment to be passive," he said.
!ADVERTISEMENT!(Reporting by Alister Bull; editing by Neil Stempleman)
