GIC return slips to 3.4% as Singapore fund revamps portfolio framework

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC posted a 20-year annualized real return of 3.4% for the period ended March 31, down from 3.8% a year earlier and its lowest reading in six years. The fund said it had taken less risk and emphasized portfolio resilience as geopolitical tensions, high public debt and rapid advances in artificial intelligence reshape markets. GIC also introduced a new investment framework from April 1 that groups assets into three broad return-based buckets, replacing a structure built around traditional asset classes. Chief Executive Lim Chow Kiat said the change should give the fund more flexibility in a world marked by wider outcomes and tighter constraints. GIC also said it will deploy an additional US$30 billion into hedge funds over the next three years.