Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), much in the news of late, are a new and growing class of funds that are already large in size, and will likely grow very rapidly in the coming years. How they will operate, both in terms of their portfolio allocation and the way in which the managers of these funds communicate and interact with the private sector will have great implications for the financial markets. The author addresses some of the key features and implications of SWFs including how big they are, their likely investment strategies, their possible impact on the financial markets, the risk of financial protectionism arising as a political reaction, and issues of transparency of the funds (greater transparency by the SWFs could help restrain the rise of financial protectionism).