Winchester City Council’s investment in Heritable bank Ltd
Winchester City Council has confirmed that it invested £1m in Heritable Bank Ltd on
Independent advice from Treasury Management advisors on the day was that Heritable Bank had a high F1 credit rating, which is the “highest credit quality, indicating the strongest capacity for timely payment of financial commitments”. This Fitch rating did not change until the 30th September, two weeks later.
The investment was made through a broker in accordance with the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy which fully complies with the Department of Communities and Local Government’s guidance.
The Council operates a policy to spread its risk over a number of investments and currently has £32m invested, with no more than £3m in any one institution.
Cllr George Beckett, Leader of the council said “I am satisfied that the City Council’s strategy for investing funds, which follows guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government, was followed in making this investment. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I do not accept that the Council has acted in any way improperly. The money is not necessarily lost and we will be following closely the process for obtaining repayment.”