Purpose & Mandate
Our purpose
Aside from rates, borrowing and government grants, investment income is the only source of revenue Councils across New Zealand have. The more income Councils can generate from their investments, the less ratepayers need to foot the bill for the services councils provide.
Our role is to generate investment income for our shareholder, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. We are the custodian of a combination of investment assets that we and HBRC own, and it is our job to get the best possible returns from those investments, to provide the Council with a steadily growing and reliable income. The Council then puts that income towards meeting the costs of the services it delivers for all of Hawke’s Bay.
The earnings from our investments make a real difference, by reducing the rates for Hawke’s Bay land and homeowners. Broadly, an annual dividend of $14.5 million offsets rates to 74,469 properties by $224 including GST, or around 26% of the average rates bill. While there are nuances within the underlying calculations, this illustrates the scale and value of the HBRIC dividend to ratepayers across the region.
Our mandate
Our investment mandate is governed by three key documents.
Statement of Expectations (SOE)
Issued occasionally by HBRC in consultation with HBRIC to provide strategic guidance for HBRIC, which is captured in more detail in HBRIC’s Statement of Intent (SOI). The SOE sets Council's priorities and expectations for HBRIC's objectives, mandate and performance targets, the demarcation between HBRC’s role and HBRIC’s role; and shapes HBRIC’s risk/return appetite.
Statement of Intent (SOI)
The SOI is required by statute to be prepared by HBRIC each year, in response to and reflecting the SOE.
Statement of Intent Policy and Objectives (SIPO)
Issued by Regional Council, the SIPO is issued in respect of the Group’s diversified Managed Funds Portfolio only and sets out the overall investment objectives, principles, performance targets, asset allocation strategies and risk management framework.
Current and past copies of these documents are available in Publications.