Building treasury capacity vital in achieving financial aims
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L to R: Richard Harbord, Jason Straker, Luke Webster, Belinda White and Nick Vickers.
Smaller local authority treasury teams need to look to cooperation and shared services with other local authorities to build their capabilities, according to sector experts.
Speaking at the Local Authority Treasurers’ Investment Forum this week, a panel said that creating larger teams though partnerships could help councils protect public cash.
Luke Webster, chief investment officer at the Greater London Authority, said that larger teams allowed team members to specialise in different areas.
He said: “The most important thing in achieving your financial strategy is to look at resilience.
“You may be thinly resourced. If you rely on one innovative individual with fantastic ideas then you are at considerable risk.”
He said that the GLA was still in negotiations with a number of other authorities who are looking for it to provide treasury management services.
Belinda White, finance manager at Birmingham City Council, outlined some of the benefits of having a large team.
She said: “We are fortunate that we have the capacity to look at new products and activities.
“We are able to get out of the office for training and events which could be an issue for smaller local authorities with smaller treasury teams.”
She said that her team had created its own methodology to decide on some aspects of Birmingham’s investment strategy.
“Our treasury adviser, Capita, looks at investment criteria based on credit ratings and how long you should invest for. All our money is very short so we have to use our own methodology,” she said.
A larger team can also help authorities get a better grip of the risks it is taking with its investments, according to Michael Quicke, chief executive of treasury manager CCLA.
Photo: Tina Miguel.
