Issue - meetings

To consider the Head of Finance’s Report

The information was accepted.

Submitted – a report by the Head of Finance providing details of the Pension Fund's financial activities for the year ending 31st March 2020. It was highlighted that the (draft) accounts were currently subject to audit which was being undertaken by Deloitte.  Following a decision by Audit Wales that accounts would remain open to public inspection until the beginning of September, the final accounts would be presented to the Audit and Governance Committee on 14th September 2020. 

It was reported that the value of the Fund on 31st March was down £143m, this was due to the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was noted that a significant fall in market value was reflected at the end of March, but the values had now risen and remained stable.

Reference was made to Notes 12, 13 and 14 where further information was included on investment costs in light of Gwynedd Fund's involvement with the Wales Pension Partnership's arrangement of pooling combined investments.

In response to questions regarding the costs of the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) and Host Authority – note 13 (£70k), was there a saving in the fees reduction compared with the costs for the Gwynedd Council Fund, and how could we ensure value for money, it was noted that the situation was very difficult to test and that the important thing was the returns as opposed to the amount of fees. It was considered that our membership of the WPP provided economies of scale, which had resulted in reduced fees, and there was greater resilience in being part of a larger fund. It was noted that the sum for 2018/19 had been omitted in error.

In response to a comment regarding a significant fall in equity dividends (Note 15), it was reported that all dividends were automatically reinvested into their relevant funds and not distributed as investment income. The fund value and change in market value on these funds would reflect both capital appreciation / depreciation plus reinvested investment income.

RESOLVED to accept the information.