It was a fantastic two days rubbing shoulders with the Local Government finance community at the recent SOLGM Strategic Finance Forum in Wellington. It was an opportunity to listen to some of the inspiring initiatives going on in the sector such as the Hamilton City Council/Downer Waikato Infrastructure Alliance and the Gisborne District Council presentation on its business intelligence software.
Gisborne DC’s presentation resonated particularly strongly with us at Hedgebook as it was a practical example of how Councils can leverage technology to work smarter.
Hedgebook is designed with a strong focus on the New Zealand Local Government sector. Our latest update to the software adds the ability to include LGFA Borrower Notes as a companion to the LGFA Loans functionality that was completed in January.
Councils now record all debt information (LGFA, bank, private placements, term borrowings), including LGFA borrower notes, alongside the interest rate swaps used to manage the fixed interest rate profile.
Councils use the simple and intuitive Hedgebook system to:
- Confirm BKBM rate-sets against bank notices = better internal controls
- Manage cashflows arising from debt and interest rate swaps = better internal controls, improved efficiency
- Calculate month-end interest accruals = saves time
- Calculate interest rate swap valuations for key reporting dates = improves compliance, know your position
- Run sensitivity analysis for financial year-end reporting = improves compliance reporting
- Compare hedging against Treasury Policy limits = strategic decision making, closer collaboration with advisors
- Move away from error prone spreadsheets
At SOLGM we met many existing Hedgebook clients and many potential new ones too. Hedgebook is already the most widely used treasury management system in NZ from both a Local Government and corporate perspective.
If you would like one of the Hedgebook team to take you through a 20 minute on-line demo of the system then just click here and we will be in touch to arrange it.