SELBY District Council used £14 million in short-term investments in one month, at up to £3 million a time, according to a council report.

Figures in a recent report by the council showed £3 million had been invested into a short-term deposit account for 15 days, which yielded £924.66 in interest for the council’s coffers.

In September, investments of £3 million were sent to three separate accounts with a banking firm called Handelsbanken, and investment managers Ignis Liquidity Fund and Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) Liquidity Funds Plc. Further investments of £2 million and £1 million were made with LGIM, while two deposits of £1 million were made with NatWest.

The council started investing in money market funds earlier this year, to help boost the authority’s funds, and a recent report showed the average amount invested was £7.7 million, with returns averaging a rate of 0.6 per cent.

A council spokeswoman said some of the funds, with Ignis and LGIM liquidity funds and NatWest, were still invested, and it was not yet possible to determine the interest earned for each individual amount. However, the spokeswoman confirmed the £3 million Handelsbanken investment had recouped interest of £924.66 – about 0.73 per cent.

Karen Iveson, executive director of finance at the council, said the authority endorsed the investments, and the council had done everything it could to avoid losing funds in the process.

She said: “There is always an element of risk when investing money, but the council mitigates this by investing in credit worthy institutions and by spreading its investment portfolio, making use of both longer and short-term investments to service our cash flow needs and optimise returns commensurate with fund security and liquidity.”