Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions
Contact: Carol Johnson 01597 826206
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies were received from Mr Gerard Moore, Chair Powys Pension Fund.
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Declarations of interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the Agenda. Minutes: Members of the Committee declared interests as members of the Local Government Pensions Scheme. These are personal interests, not prejudicial interests in accordance with Paragraph 12(b) (iv) of the Members Code of Conduct 2016.
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To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 19 October, 2018 as a correct record.
Minutes: The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 19 October, 2018 as a correct record. The Committee noted that the Pension Fund Annual Report 2017/18 had been published on the Fund’s wesbite - www.powyspensionfund.org - by 1 December, 2018.
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Pensions Board minutes PDF 81 KB To receive for information the minutes of the Powys Pensions Board meeting held on 21 September, 2018 and to receive a report of the meeting held on 30 November, 2018 [to follow]. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received the Board minutes for 21 September, 2018 having previously received a verbal report from the Chair at the last Committee meeting.
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To cosider the update. Minutes: The Committee received the Actuarial update. The Committee noted that at the 2016 valuation the funding ratio was 80% [Total Assets/Total Liabilities%]. The Government Actuaries Department [GAD] had undertaken a Section 13 Review of Local Government Pension Schemes Valuations. No issues had been identified in respect of the Powys Pension Fund.
The Committee noted the changes to the fund as at 30 September, 2018 and that asset returns were 16% better than expected. It was noted that a range of other issues impact on the Fund’s performance including:- Cost management process – the outcome of the Scheme Advisory Board [SAB] and Treasury Cost Control reviews could have an impact on the costs of the scheme and would need to be built into the Council’s budget. Longevity – standardised mortality rate information indicated that the trend for 2011-2017 was down but flattening out.
The 2019 valuation will take place on 31 March 2019 and there were no certainties as to whether the current positon would prevail at this time.
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To consider the update. Minutes: The Committee noted the current position regarding the investment into the four Hedge Fund Managers. The Committee was advised that the required information had now been received from Stone Milliner Macro Fund and Man Alternative Risk Premis SP Fund and investments would be made at the next trading opportunities for each Fund. It was noted that each Fund Manager brought different skills to the investment portfolio.
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Wales Pension Partnership [WPP] update To receive a verbal update. Minutes: The Pension Fund Manager updated the Committee on the WPP. The transition to Global Equities was planned to be completed early in 2019. WPP was now working on the next set of Sub Funds and an update on progress would be provided to the Joint Governance Committee at the end of January 2019. The next set of Sub Funds would be made available once work had been completed.
It was noted that Carmarthenshire, the host authority, had now made an appointment which it was envisaged would allow for an improvement in communications with the Funds in the Partnership.
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Pensions & Investment Committee Member Training PDF 63 KB To consider a report from the Strategic Director of Resources. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee considered the report regarding Member training.
Members commented on the excellent value of the Local Government Association [LGA] training and that some members were disappointed by the recent training provided by LA Forum due to the last minute change to the Agenda. The Pension Fund Manager agreed to feed views back to the training providers.
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Forward Looking Business Plan PDF 123 KB To consider the Plan. Minutes: The Committee received the Forward Looking Business Plan and noted that information regarding cyber crime and security would be considered at a future meeting.
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Exempt item The Monitoring Officer has determined that category 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following items. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 14.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information. Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting. Minutes: RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following items of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 3 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007).
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Portfolio evaluation - Introduction and presentation Minutes: The Committee received a presentation from Portfolio Evaluation Ltd. regarding the Investment Performance review as at 30 September, 2018.
County Councillor A Davies left the meeting.
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Securities Lending To consider the report. Minutes: The Chair welcomed Aon to the meeting, who provided some information and training on securities lending.
The Committee noted that a more detailed report on this issue would be provided to the next Committee meeting.
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Markets and Brexit To consider the update report. Minutes: Aon provided the Committee with an overview of markets and the impact of various Brexit options.
In respect of markets the following issues were noted: · US markets were flat · Equity markets were less likely to fall · Economic growth in US was strong and although the Chinese economy was slowing it was unlikely that it and other economies would go into recession, as inflation was under control.
Councillor T Van-Rees left the meeting.
The following item was taken next.
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Equity protection To consider a report – slides to be provided at meeting. Minutes: Aon advised that it was considered that equity markets had entered a transitionary period which could result in an equity market downturn. As a result, officers had asked Aon to consider a range of equity protection strategies. Aon explained the various options available which could mitigate equity risk. The Committee would need to agree clear objectives for its use of equity protection and consider the level of risk it considered the Fund could bear.
County Councillor A Davies returned to the meeting.
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Cost transparency To consider the report. Minutes: The Committee noted the report.
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Responsible Investment To consider a report – summary slides to be provided at the meeting. Minutes: The Committee members had completed a survey regarding Responsible Investment and received the summary of survey results.
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Medium Term Asset Allocation (MTAA) Update – Quarterly update to 30 September 2018 To consider the quarterly update. Minutes: The Committee noted the Quarter 3 Medium Term Asset Allocation [MTAA] report to 30 September, 2018.
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Quarterly monitoring report Q3 2018 To conisder the report. Minutes: The Committee noted the Quarterly Monitoring report.
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