Council walks away from AMP bank

In the Investments Made As At 31 August 2019 report presented to Councillors at yesterday's Ordinary Council meeting Council it was revealed that Council has 100% ($112.00m) invested in Bank Deposits. The Bank Deposits are held in banks rated A or greater, or covered by the AAA rated Government Guarantee, except for $35.25m invested in banks rated below A, and in the ‘some limited risk’ category of the policy. The ‘some limited risk’ category is now restricted to BBB+ rating institutions which allows up to 30% of all investments. Currently there is 31.47% invested in BBB+. Investment in Government Guaranteed Deposits is $1.75m and represents 1.56% of the portfolio. Of interest was the revelation that there was a downgrade to the AMP Bank from A to BBB+ rating by Standard and Poors rating agency and as a result the amount invested in the BBB+ category of the portfolio exceeds the 30% allowed in Council’s investment policy by 1.47%. As a result the AMP Bank will be removed from the portfolio when the current investments mature and this will rebalance the portfolio. There are $51m (45.54%) of funds invested in claimed fossil fuel free institutions. This percentage has increased in line with the total portfolio.

AMP Bank, now downgraded from A to BBB+, will be removed from the Eurobodalla Council portfolio when the current investments mature to rebalance the portfolio