NU/1874 Segregated Fund Manager

<p>Currently the University finance team looks after its Treasury Management Policy and short-term investments are managed in house with the University placing investments with banks, building societies for periods of anywhere between overnight and 12 months. The University has current banking facilities in place with the following Banks or Building societies: • Barclays Bank UK plc [University main bankers] • Royal Bank of Scotland/Nat West plc • Lloyds Bank plc • Santander UK plc • Close Brothers Ltd • Leeds Building Society • Handelsbanken • Virgin Money UK Plc The University has recently revised its Treasury Management Policy to allow the University to invest in a wider range of financial instruments including: • Bank or building society instant access or notice investment accounts • AAA rated Serling Money Market Funds • Fixed term deposits • Certificates of Deposit (CD)* A copy of the draft Treasury Management Policy is included in Appendix 1. At the end of January 2023, the University had cash and short-term investment holdings of circa £213m, but forecast to reduce based on current three year forecasts which include significant strategic project including Net Carbon Zero spend. The profile of income and expenditure is not even – in particular significant University funding is paid by the SLC and this is currently received 25% in late October, 25% in early February with the remaining 50% at the beginning of May. The University’s expenditure profile is more even. Cash flows are profiled on a monthly basis. The University’s attitude to risk is conservative and security is the most important factor in the Treasury Management Policy. It is a requirement of the new Treasury Management Policy that the investments should be in assets with long term ratings no lower than BBB+ [Fitch], Baa1 [Moody’s] and BBB+ [Standard &amp; Poor]. Further, as strategic project expenditure profile is uncertain liquidity is also very important, particularly given the requirement to always provide 60 days of operating cost liquidity. To operationalise the newly drafted Treasury Management Policy the University wishes to appoint a segregated fund manager to manage in the region of £50m behalf of the University of Newcastle To be considered managers must meet the criteria outlined in the specification including: • Is not currently and has not in the last five years been subject to serious regulatory investigation or action • Track record of segregated fund management team of at least ten years All criteria are extremely important to the University and will not be negotiable.</p>