It’s Friday, which means finding some good reading material for the weekend. I’ve got some news and an interesting paper for you.

First the news:

• Panama's lawmakers voted 41-19 today to approve the creation of a new SWF.
• The CIC is interested in more direct investments in Russia.
• Chilean policymakers are looking to their SWF to buffer domestic economy should Euro crisis get worse.
• Qatar's Hassad is reportedly shifting its strategy away from investing and towards production.

Now the paper: Jody MacIntosh and Tom Scheibelhut have a new paper out in the Rotman International Journal for Pension Management entitled “How Large Pens ion Funds Organize Themselves: Findings from a Unique 19-Fund Survey”. It’s actually quite fascinating. Here’s a blurb:

“This article documents the organizational and compensation structures of 19 major pension funds around the world. Among the study’s key findings are that more internal management is associated with greater fund size, lower operating costs, and higher net returns; internal compensation levels vary considerably around the globe; and the majority of fund’s Boards of Directors continue to lack diversity. Looking ahead, the authors find that risk management is the number-one Board concern.”

Have a great weekend!