However, in 1976, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding president of the United Arab Emirates, converted it into the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

[7] The goal was to invest the Abu Dhabi government's surpluses across various asset classes, with low risk.

[8][citation needed] In the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal of the 1990s, ADIA reportedly lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

These principles were created to demonstrate to home and recipient countries and the international financial markets that sovereign wealth funds had robust internal frameworks and governance practices and that their investments were made only on an economic and financial basis.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is a major purchaser of U.S. institutional real estate through various sub-entities.

The $7 billion investment in Citigroup has lost approximately 90% of its value as of 26 November 2009, 2 years after it acquired a sizable stake in the bank.

[14][15] On 27 May 2013, ADIA published its 2012 Review, with an overview of its activities during the past year as well as an explanation of its approach to investing – strategy, governance, and risk management.