Cohres Institutional Research | September 2026

Designing Investment Institutions for a More Complex Era

Sovereign wealth funds are operating in an investment environment that is increasingly shaped by private markets, direct investment, technological change, geopolitical complexity and rapidly expanding volumes of information.

For governments establishing sovereign investment institutions today, the challenge is therefore not simply how national capital should be allocated. It is also how to build the institutional capabilities required to evaluate, underwrite, govern and monitor increasingly complex investments.

Designing a Sovereign Wealth Fund for the AI Era presents a Cohres framework for designing a modern sovereign wealth fund around strong governance, disciplined investment processes, institutional capability and carefully integrated AI-enabled decision support.

The report draws on established sovereign wealth fund practices and investment-governance principles while examining how a newly established fund can incorporate modern research infrastructure, Commercial Evaluation, Commercial Due Diligence, Investment Committee processes, portfolio monitoring and institutional knowledge management from inception.

Capability Before Allocation

A central principle of the report is Capability Before Allocation.

Expanding into private equity, infrastructure, venture capital, private credit or direct investments creates analytical and organisational requirements that differ materially from managing a predominantly liquid public-market portfolio.

Before pursuing these strategies, a sovereign wealth fund should determine whether it possesses—or can access—the capabilities necessary to evaluate and monitor them responsibly.

This includes Commercial Evaluation, financial underwriting, Commercial Due Diligence, technical and regulatory expertise, counterparty assessment, Investment Committee governance and portfolio monitoring.

Not every capability needs to be internalised. The objective is to ensure that investment ambition does not move ahead of institutional capability.

From Capital Allocator to Investment Underwriter

The expansion of private markets is changing the capabilities required of institutional investors.

Traditional sovereign investment models could obtain substantial exposure through public markets and external asset managers. Greater participation in private equity, infrastructure, venture capital, private credit, co-investments and direct investments places more responsibility on the institution itself to evaluate businesses, counterparties, commercial assumptions and execution risks before capital is committed.

The report therefore examines the evolution of the sovereign wealth fund from capital allocator toward investment underwriter.

This does not mean abandoning traditional asset allocation. It means complementing it with the investment research, commercial analysis, due diligence and governance capabilities required for increasingly complex investment strategies.

AI as Institutional Infrastructure

The report makes an important distinction between investing in artificial intelligence and becoming an AI-enabled investment institution.

AI investment exposure does not itself create institutional capability.

Instead, artificial intelligence can support investment professionals across research retrieval, document analysis, opportunity screening, Commercial Evaluation, Commercial Due Diligence, scenario analysis, portfolio monitoring and institutional knowledge management.

The report argues that these capabilities should augment professional judgement rather than replace it. Material investment conclusions should remain evidence-based, source-traceable and subject to professional review, while responsibility for capital-allocation decisions remains with investment professionals and established governance bodies.

What the Report Examines

The report develops an integrated framework covering:

• Sovereign wealth fund mandates and institutional design
• Global sovereign wealth fund practices
• Governance architecture and institutional independence
• Investment processes and Investment Committee governance
• Commercial Evaluation and Commercial Due Diligence
• AI-enabled investment research and decision support
• AI-enabled value creation within investment theses and portfolios
• Portfolio monitoring and active ownership
  Investment risk, data governance, cybersecurity and AI model risk
• Institutional knowledge management and organisational capability
• A blueprint for a next-generation sovereign wealth fund

The resulting framework combines a clear institutional mandate and independent governance with a disciplined investment engine, modern enabling capabilities and a control environment designed to preserve accountability.

The Central Conclusion

The sovereign wealth fund of the future does not require a fundamentally different purpose from the successful institutions that preceded it.

It requires stronger institutional capability to fulfil that purpose in a changing investment environment.

Technology alone will not determine the effectiveness of future sovereign investors. Long-term institutional success will continue to depend on governance, investment discipline, professional judgement, organisational learning and the responsible stewardship of national capital.

AI can strengthen those capabilities. It should not substitute for them.

Read the Full Cohres Institutional Research Report

Designing a Sovereign Wealth Fund for the AI Era

A Framework for Modern Sovereign Investment, Governance and AI-Enabled Decision-Making

September 2026 | 36 pages