LOBO loans

The request was successful.

Jamie Griffiths

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

1. How many Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBOs) contracts do you have on your books?

2. When were they signed and by whom?

3. With which financial institutions were they taken out?

4. Who advised the council to enter the LOBO(s)?

5. Since each Contract has been signed, has the lender exercised their option and changed the interest rate?

6. If so, please specify the dates of the interest rate changes and the revised interest rates.

7. Please provide a copy of the original, signed LOBO agreements.

Yours faithfully,

Jamie Griffiths

Freedom of Information, Croydon Borough Council

 

Dear Mr Griffiths

 

Freedom of Information Request

 

Thank you for your recent request.

 

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

 

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information requested where the request exceeds the statutory limit or
where disbursements exceed £450. In such cases you will be informed in
writing and your request will be suspended until we receive payment from
you or your request is modified and/or reduced.

 

Your request may require either full or partial transfer to another public
authority. You will be informed if your request is transferred.

 

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why and details of how you
may appeal (if appropriate).

 

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Ahtisham Riaz

FOI Co-ordinator

Croydon Council

 

Information in relation to the London Borough of Croydon is available
at [1]http://www.croydonobservatory.org/. Also responses to previous
Freedom of Information requests can also be found on the following link

[2]https://croydondata.wordpress.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Further consultation now happening on proposals to introduce a landlord
licensing scheme in Croydon. You now have until 2nd March 2015 to get
involved.
www.croydon.gov.uk/betterplacetorent

Council services, online 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount
Download our new free My Croydon app for a faster, smarter and better way
to report local issues www.croydon.gov.uk/app

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

References

Visible links
1. http://www.croydonobservatory.org/
2. https://croydondata.wordpress.com/

Freedom of Information, Croydon Borough Council

10 Attachments

Dear Mr Griffiths

 

Freedom of Information Request

Please see attached the council's response to your Freedom of Information
request.

Yours sincerely

 

Ahtisham Riaz

FOI Coordinator

Croydon Council

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount Download our
new free My Croydon app for a faster, smarter and better way to report
local issues www.croydon.gov.uk/app

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'LOBO loans'.

I feel that I have only been given a partial answer to the question "Who advised the council to enter the LOBO(s)?"

The response received was "The LOBOs were taken up in accordance with the Authority’s Treasury Strategy for each year. LOBO 5, 6, 8 & 9 were agreed after consulting with the Council’s treasury advisors."

A full answer would specify which firms were acting as the Council's treasury advisers at the time of taking out the LOBOs referenced. Can this information please be provided?

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

Yours faithfully,

Jamie Griffiths

Passman, Howard, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr. Griffiths,

 

Further to your email dated 21 April 2015 in which you requested an
internal review of the Council’s response to your request for information,
I have now concluded the review and am able to reply as follows.

 

In your request for an Internal review you asked the Council to reconsider
your request as you believed that you had not been provided with the
information that you requested.

    

In your request for information dated 7 March 2015 you requested the
following information:

 

“How many Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBOs) contracts do you have on
your books?

When were they signed and by whom?

With which financial institutions were they taken out? 

Who advised the council to enter the LOBO(s)?

Since each Contract has been signed, has the lender exercised their option
and changed the interest rate? If so, please specify the dates of the
interest rate changes and the revised interest rates.

Please provide a copy of the original, signed LOBO agreements”

 

The Council responded to you on 19 March 2015, provided you with the
following information:

 

“The Council has 9 LOBO loans outstanding:

 

LOBO 1 - £20m with Royal Bank of Scotland PLC signed by Marion Kelly on
15/7/2007

 

LOBO 2 - £10m with Dexia Credit Local signed by Nathan Elvery on 25/9/2007

 

LOBO 3 - £10m with Dexia Credit Local signed by Nathan Elvery on 25/9/2007

 

LOBO 4 - £20m with Royal Bank of Scotland PLC signed by Nathan Elvery on
14/8/2009

 

LOBO 5 - £20m with Royal Bank of Scotland PLC signed by Richard Simpson on
15/7/2010

 

LOBO 6 - £20m with Royal Bank of Scotland PLC signed by Richard Simpson on
15/7/2010

 

LOBO 7 - £20m with Royal Bank of Scotland PLC signed by Nathan Elvery on
8/4/2009

 

LOBO 8 - £10m with Siemens Financial Services signed by Richard Simpson on
19/7/2012

 

LOBO 9 - £9.5m with Siemens Financial Services signed by Richard Simpson
on 11/11/2013

 

The LOBOs were taken up in accordance with the Authority’s Treasury
Strategy for each year. LOBO 5, 6, 8 & 9 were agreed after consulting with
the Council’s treasury advisors.

 

No lender has to date exercised their option to vary the interest rate of
any of the LOBOs.

 

Please see attached above the documentation for each of the LOBOs.”

 

In your request for an Internal Review dated, 21 April 2015 you stated:

 

“I feel that I have only been given a partial answer to the question "Who
advised the council to enter the LOBO(s)?"

 

The response received was "The LOBOs were taken up in accordance with the
Authority’s Treasury Strategy for each year. LOBO 5, 6, 8 & 9 were agreed
after consulting with the Council’s treasury advisors."

 

A full answer would specify which firms were acting as the Council's
treasury advisers at the time of taking out the LOBOs referenced. Can this
information please be provided?.” 

 

On receiving your request for an Internal Review I made further enquiries
of the Pensions & Treasury Division, following which they have confirmed
that the Council’s treasury advisers are Capita Asset Services.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House

Water Lane, Wilmslow

Cheshire, SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Howard Passman

Legal & Democratic Services
Resources Department
Annexe 4,

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon

Surrey

CR0 1EA

020 8726 6000 ext. 62318

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CB596C.6115F4C0

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount Download our
new free My Croydon app for a faster, smarter and better way to report
local issues www.croydon.gov.uk/app

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

References

Visible links

Jamie Griffiths

Dear Howard Passman,

Thank you for conducting the internal review so swiftly and for your prompt response - it's very much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Griffiths