Investment Management 32

Office of the Director, Investment Management Service

Office of the Director, Investment Management Service

Table 25 History of the Investment Management Service

Figure 18 Cost of management of the Fund's portfolio by the Investment Management Service

The UNHCR Treasury makes the decisions on investment and cash management.

(b) Develop, administer and maintain system interface with investment advisers, custodians, bankers and all related financial institutions, and maintain the infrastructure and portfolio management and operational systems of the Investment Management Service

(b) To review the procedures and operating methods of the Investment Management Service

(c) Enhancement of the Investment Management Service through the addition of five new posts, indexed management costs, including the costs of transition management services, and consultant costs

(c) Improving the efficiency and flexibility of the Investment Management Service in adopting new investment approaches requires a stronger and more sophisticated infrastructure.

Implement a full segregation of duties on investment and cash management decisions (para. 89)

(d) In view of the size and diversification of the investment portfolio, the Investment Management Service should increase the number of investment managers or review the possibility of hiring additional discretionary investment advisers (AS2001 95 1 14)

(f) Implement a full segregation of duties on investment and cash management decisions (para. 89)

The project will assist the Investment Management Service in mitigating exposure to various risk factors.

(e) The new investment officer will be specialized in alternative asset management, the skills for which significantly differ from those for conventional portfolio management.

Investment in payroll systems could provide significant returns in cost avoidance and in better system management.

The office of the Director is responsible for the overall operations of the Investment Management Service.

The goals to be achieved relate to the acquisition, customization, installation and maintenance of investment management systems

This effort will be complemented by investment in Headquarters and mission data collection and information management systems.

A new management team had been appointed for the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).

A state of the art system will allow the Investment Management Service to rapidly and accurately handle complex investment data and analyse the portfolio risk and its performance.

By realigning the Fund's investment, infrastructure and team configuration, a number of the audit recommendations made to the Investment Management Service in the past few years can be implemented.

Projects aimed at maximizing the potential of remittances must include women, and they needed access to financial management and investment, credit, training in microenterprise management and other resources.

UNHCR agreed with the Board's recommendation to implement a full segregation of duties on investment and cash management decisions.

Under the circumstances, the Investment Management Service has received a number of audit recommendations in the past few years.

Water demand management policies could also be used for reducing the waste water volumes and required investment in sewerage.

To carry out the mission and achieve the Fund's goals and objectives, the Investment Section of the Investment Management Service actively manages portfolios of equity, fixed income, real estate and short term investments, constantly analysing capital markets and investment opportunities.

Under investment cost, the Secretary Chief Executive Officer explained that the additional resources requested were directly linked to the recommendations made in the report of Deloitte and Touche on the investment process, operations and organization of the Investment Management Service.

Historically, the increase of the Fund's value and the speed of the evolution of the market environment have outpaced the build up of investment and operational capability in the Investment Management Service.

Moreover, the Operations Section maintains the budget of the Investment Management Service, monitoring expenditures against budget allocations and processing payments.

Although the Investment Management Service is not a registered investment company, the goal of the Risk and Compliance Section would be to enhance the compliance function and, in doing so, foster improved compliance.

UNHCR agreed with the Board's recommendation to implement a full segregation of duties in respect of investment and cash management decisions.

He greatly valued country level assistance in areas such as customs reforms, debt management, and trade and investment related technical assistance.

Also, an investment team specialized in developing countries and in alternative investments would increase the probability of higher investment returns and would also offer a better risk management capability as a result of further diversification.

This data warehouse system, as the core of the infrastructure of the Investment Management System, would integrate with the other specialist investment applications which support risk and performance, compliance, trading, accounting and internal reporting functions.

Full segregation on a) cash management analysis and b) subsequent investment decision making process has been implemented through providing detailed written substantiation on cash flow positions available, including projections and determining funds available for investment.

It is expected that this will bring new efficiencies to the operational and accounting processes and procedures of the Investment Management Service.

The introduction of high end investment tools, such as those for risk management, may require upgrading the workstations that support this software.

(f) Compliance processes are needed for monitoring the adherence of advisers and service providers to the standards of the Investment Management Service

The estimated requirement for training ( 268,800) represents an increase of 64,600, reflecting an increase in staff and the need for the staff of the Investment Management Service to stay current in an ever changing investment environment.

The Investment Management Service is responsible for the day to day management of the assets of the Fund and for the maintenance of detailed accounts of all investments and other transactions relating to the Fund.

(p) Further recognizing the need for increased investment in sustainable forest management, including through reinvesting revenues generated from forests including timber related trade

The Section is also responsible for the production of daily cash projections to aid the investment officers in the proper management of cash.

The system is integrated with pre trade and post trade capabilities which will reduce the operational risk exposure of the Investment Management Service.

The Investment Management Service of the Fund stated that it would request the necessary resources in the budget for the 2006 2007 biennium.