The spotlight is back on sovereign wealth funds. This week, Abu Dhabi bought an English soccer club and unveiled plans to invest in Hollywood. Now the funds have come up with a voluntary code of conduct supported by countries as diverse as China, East Timor, Libya, Norway, Russia, the US and the United Arab Emirates.

That may suggest an accord that is a mile wide and in inch deep. Thanks to high commodity prices and global imbalances, sovereign wealth funds now control at least $2,000bn in assets. It is widely accepted that the scale of their activities is too important to ignore.