11 pages of "secret" documents show the gap between the assets and liabilties of Merseyside Pension Fund is growing

11 pages of “secret” documents show the gap between the assets and liabilties of Merseyside Pension Fund is growing

11 pages of “secret” documents show the gap between the assets and liabilties of Merseyside Pension Fund is growing

                                            

Councillor Paul Doughty Chair of the Pensions Committee deciding on Monday 23rd March on the advice of officers to keep all this a secret
Councillor Paul Doughty Chair of the Pensions Committee (on the right of the photo) deciding on Monday 23rd March on the advice of officers to keep all this a secret

I will declare at the start that I have a close relative paid a pension from the Merseyside Pension Fund. Below are 11 pages of the minutes of the Investment Monitoring Working Party meeting held on the 5th March 2015. On the advice of officers, councillors on the Pension Committee on Tuesday resolved to keep these minutes out of the public domain on the basis that it was “Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)” and that “in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information”.

I disagree and think there is a public interest in these minutes being in the public domain in the interests of openness and transparency.

Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 1
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 1
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 2
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 2
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 3
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 3
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 4
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 4
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 5
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 5
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 6
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 6
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 7
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 7
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 8
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 8
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 9
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 9
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 10
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 10
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 11
Investment Monitoring Working Party Minutes 5th March 2015 Page 11

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Why did Wirral Council pay £2,943.61 for travel to Rome, Madrid, Frankurt, Paris, Montreux, Dublin & Vienna?

Why did Wirral Council pay £2,943.61 for travel to Rome, Madrid, Frankurt, Paris, Montreux, Dublin & Vienna?

Why did Wirral Council pay £2,943.61 for travel to Rome, Madrid, Frankurt, Paris, Montreux, Dublin & Vienna?

                                                   

Councillor Paul Doughty Chair of the Pensions Committee deciding on Monday 23rd March on the advice of officers to keep all this a secret
Councillor Paul Doughty Chair of the Pensions Committee (on the right of the photo) deciding on Monday 23rd March on the advice of officers to keep all this a secret

I will declare at the start that I have a close relative paid a Merseyside Pension Fund pension.

Rome, Madrid, Paris and Vienna were all destinations travelled to by Wirral Council employees working in its Merseyside Pension Fund section paid for out of Merseyside Pension Fund funds. On the advice of officers, councillors on the Pension Committee on Tuesday resolved to keep this list out of the public domain on the basis that it was “Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)” and that “in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information”.

I disagree with councillors on that assessment and the table of overseas travel by those in its Merseyside Pension Fund section for 2014 is below.

DEPARTMENT OFFICER LOCATION DATE PURPOSE COST *
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND GREG CAMPBELL MADRID 13-17 JAN 2014 ATTEND INVESTMENT CONFERENCE TO VIEW 16 COMPANY PRESENTATIONS WHO ARE POTENTIAL VIABLE INVESTMENTS. TO PROVIDE EUROPEAN MANAGER WITH BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES AND INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE. £642.63
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND PETER WALLACH ROME 5-7 FEB 2014 ATTEND INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR EUROPEAN PENSIONS SYMPOSIUM. INVITED TO SPEAK AT THE EVENT AND OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR FROM PENSIONS AND INVESTMENT EXPERTS. TO MEET WITH OTHER PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FUNDS. £260.22
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND SUSANNAH FRIAR MIAMI 18-21 MARCH 2014 ATTEND PARTNERS GROUP ANNUAL CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS PROGRESS OF FUNDS. ATTEND PRESENTATIONS BY PARTNERS FUND MANAGERS AND INVITED SPEAKERS TO LOOK AT CASE STUDIES OF COMPANIES INVESTED. NIL
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND LEYLAND OTTER MONTREUX 27-30 APRIL 2014 ATTEND EUROPEAN PENSIONS AND INVESTMENTS CONFERENCE. AN OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK WITH OUR PEERS IN THE INVESTMENT FIELD AND TO ASSIMILATE CURRENT THINKING ON PROSPECTIVE INVESTMENTS ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF ASSET CLASSES £305.58
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND OWEN THORNE DUBLIN 6-8 MAY 2014 ATTEND BLACKROCK RENEWABLES CONFERENCE. ATTENDANCE AT INVESTOR DAY WHICH IS INTEGRAL PART OF THE FUND’S INVESTMENT MONITORING PROCESS. TO EVALUATE PROGRESS OF THE TEAM AND OTHER NETWORKING AND MARKET INTELLIGENCE GATHERING BENEFITS £60.00
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND LEYLAND OTTER BRUSSELS 12-13 MAY 2014 ATTEND ANTIN IP INVESTOR DAY. OPPORTUNITY FOR UPDATE ON INFRASTRUCTURE FUND AND SITE VISIT NIL
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND SUSANNAH FRIAR FRANKFURT 13-15 MAY 2014 ATTEND INVESCO PROPERTY CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS PROGRESS OF THE FUND. TO ATTEND PRESENTATION BY INVESCO MANAGERS AND INVESCO SPEAKERS. MEET WITH OTHER INVESTORS £391.00
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND GREG CAMPBELL PARIS 17 JUNE 2014 TO ATTEND INVESTMENT CONFERENCE WITH OVER 20 COMPANY PRESENTATIONS. MANY WHO ARE HELD IN THE EUROPEAN PORTFOLIO. TO PROVIDE BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES TO INCREASE INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE. £713.89
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND SUSANNAH FRIAR PARIS 17-17 NOV 2014 ATTEND CARLYLE GROUP ANNUAL CONFERENCE. TO PROVIDE PROGRESS OF INVESTMENTS, ATTEND GENERAL CONFERENCE TO LEARN THOUGHTS OF GUEST PRESENTERS AND OTHER CARLYLE FUNDS. NETWORK WITH LIKE MINDED INVESTORS. £564.59
MERSEYSIDE PENSION FUND PETER WALLACH VIENNA 19-21 NOV 2014 ATTEND IPE CONFERENCE & ANNUAL AWARDS. AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MPF TO BE REPRESENTED AT THE AWARDS CEREMONY AND THE BENEFIT FROM THE SEMINAR AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES WITH OTHER FUNDS. £5.70

* Costs to Fund. A number of events were subsidised by the organisers who pay for or contribute towards travel, and/or accommodation and/or attendance costs.

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UPDATED: Wirral Council & Merseyside Pension Fund in “A bad day at Black Rock”

UPDATED: Wirral Council & Merseyside Pension Fund in “A bad day at Black Rock”

Wirral Council & Merseyside Pension Fund in “A bad day at Black Rock”

             

This is a rather complicated story in which I’m just going to state the facts and try not jump to conclusions or assumptions, but first a bit of background. Wirral Council is the administering authority for Merseyside Pension Fund which has assets of billions of pounds. The members of the Pension Committee (mainly consisting of Wirral Council councillors) are its trustees.

At tonight’s meeting the members of the Pension Committee will consider at agenda item 9 (gifts and hospitality returns) a report, the M21 Gifts and Hospitality form and the register of CPD (which means continuing professional development) and training.

Here are the entries about Blackrock, first from the M21 form.

Officer’s name Nature of hospitality/gift Value of offer Donor organisation Date of offer Organisation seeking work: Yes/No Offer accepted Yes/No
INVESTMENT MANAGER DINNER – FOLLOWING BUSINESS MEETING £50.00 BLACKROCK 22 Nov 12 Organisation seeking work? No Offer accepted? Yes
INVESTMENT MANAGER DINNER FOLLOWING BUSINESS MEETING £80 BLACKROCK 22 MAY 13 Organisation seeking work? YES –
Assessment is made by Consultant.
Offer accepted? YES
INVESTMENT MANAGER DINNER – FOLLOWING BUSINESS MEETING £50 BLACK ROCK 28 AUG 13 Organisation seeking work? NO Offer accepted? YES

Now this is the only Blackrock entry from the CPD/Training Form.

Officer’s name Nature of non hospitality Donor organisation Value of offer Date of offer Organisation seeking work: Yes/No
INVESTMENT MANAGER DINNER – FOLLOWING BUSINESS MEETING BLACK ROCK 28 AUG 13 Organisation seeking work? NO

So what you may ask?

Well at the Pension Committee meeting of the 16th September the Pension Committee received a report on Medium Term Asset Allocation Implementation of Framework along with two exempt appendices that I’ll publish here, exempt appendix 1 entitled “Framework for Implementation of Active Management of Medium Term Asset Allocation Revised as at 30th August 2013” and exempt appendix 2 entitled Overlay Manager Review (the Fund) 10th July 2013.

The latter exempt appendix 2, a report of Aon Hewitt Limited goes into detail of the two proposals from Blackrock and Northern Trust to be an overlay manager for the Merseyside Pension Fund. Blackrock’s proposed flat fee is £150,000 a year, Northern Rock’s is somewhere between £50,000 and £300,000 a year. The report states that “Blackrock’s fee is more competitive” and concludes by stating “However, having considered each key criterion, we believe BlackRock would provide a stronger overlay partner for the Fund”.

Exempt appendix 1 states in “next steps” at 9.1 “Officers are in the process of conducting contractual due diligence with Black Rock. Once complete BlackRock will set up the QIF and MPF will fund in cash approximately £50m (The cash will be largely be utilised as collateral for derivative instruments).”

The report makes clear at 2.2 that “Since the Pensions Committee [of the 24th June] and following advice from Aon Hewitt, BlackRock have been appointed as the Overlay Manager.”

So why did an investment manager of the Merseyside Pension Fund accept dinner from Blackrock on the 22nd May 2013, an organisation seeking work to the value of £150,000 a year from Merseyside Pension Fund, that ultimately won the contract? Will the “assessment made by consultant” into this practice be published? Will there be any questions into this asked of officers by members of the Pension Committee tonight? We’ll just have to wait and see.

UPDATED 20/11/13: The item on gifts and hospitality returns attracted no questions from members of the Pension Committee during the meeting itself, no calls for the assessment to be published and no explanations from officers. One other interesting thing about the M21 form and CPD form is officer’s names aren’t given under the heading officer’s name, just job descriptions.

UPDATED 25/11/13: In response to this FOI request, Wirral Council responded as follows:

“1. The ‘Assessment by consultant’ referred to in the M21 form does indeed refer to an exercise commissioned from the Fund’s strategic consultant, Aon Hewitt. The purpose of the exercise was to make recommendations to Fund officers on the appointment of a medium term asset allocation overlay manager. The original exercise had been to carry out due diligence on the Fund’s existing custodian bank, Northern Trust, to fulfill the role of overlay manager. However, concerns of a regulatory nature were raised by Aon Hewitt and it was decided to investigate alternative solutions alongside this by accessing the Fund’s Transition Manager Framework. BlackRock were a participant in the Framework, having previously gone through a competitive tendering process, and out of all of the Framework participants approached were the only one able and willing to carry out the role of overlay manager. Aon Hewitt were then asked to compare the suitability of BlackRock and Northern Trust to deliver the overlay manager service and make a recommendation to officers.

2. BlackRock were, and continue to be, an appointed investment manager for the Fund; currently managing over £300 million of Fund assets.

3. The Head of Merseyside Pension Fund made the final decision to appoint BlackRock as overlay manager for the Fund, on advice from Aon Hewitt and acting under delegated authority. This decision was reported to the Pension Committee at their meeting in September 2013.”

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