Trident Housing Association’s governance has been downgraded by the Homes and Communities Agency because it submitted inaccurate information.
According to Housing News:
The housing association now has a governance rating of G2 which means: “The provider meets the requirements on governance set out in the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.”
The regulator’s assessment of Trident’s governance has been downgraded because its governance arrangements failed to ensure accurate information was provided to the regulator and that there was effective management of treasury risk.
The HCA’s assessment of Trident’s financial viability is currently under review.
During October 2014 the regulator was in dialogue with Trident about inconsistencies in information provided in its quarterly financial survey data returns and in particular inconsistencies around treasury, securitisation and liquidity management.
The report said: “Facilities had been reported as being in place when they were not and the ability to access liquid funds had been overstated as security was not in place. The regulator had taken assurance from previous contact on the reported position which was subsequently found to be incorrect.”
However the report added: “Trident has responded in a timely and appropriate way to the regulator’s concerns. Due to the lack of assurance over the accuracy of the financial information received, Trident commissioned an independent review, to a brief agreed with the regulator, of the accuracy of its cashflow position. The review has confirmed that while the short term liquidity position is satisfactory, there are improvements that can be made to Trident’s treasury management and reporting processes to improve internal control.
“The regulator has accepted assurances that inaccuracies were caused by human error rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead.”
A spokesperson for Trident said the association is “working with the social housing regulator to’resolve any outstanding issues.”