Council money being placed in 'more volatile' investments
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:57 pm
The council's auditors think the risk will pay off though
More than a third of Coventry council's savings are being used for investments in the hope of making a bigger return.
Coventry City Council has £100.1 million in its reserves - money put aside for the day-to-day running of services such as rubbish collection - as of October 12.
But £38.9m of this money has already been placed into Collective Investment Funds (CIF), where money is pooled with other investors in the hopes of gaining a return.
While the move could pay off and see the council's coffers swell, it could also be a big risk.
Auditor Grant Thornton, which acts on the council's behalf, said the authority is starting to move from "more secure" investments to ones that are "potentially more volatile".
However it noted that the risk is so far paying off.
Paul Hammond, from Grant Thornton, said: "Previously we have invested in funds that provide a very secure, consistent, but relatively low level of return.
"There is now a slight change of emphasis in the fact that we have gone for funds that are potentially more volatile in the terms that they offer.
"Some months may be high, some months may be low, but overall they should be higher than what they were before.
"We have had these funds for one month now and the first results show the portfolio at £38.9m returned a 5.5 per cent return and the similar portfolio returned 1.5 per cent."
So they've forgotten the Iceland debacle already?
