[members-discuss] [External] Re: [news] 167th RIPE NCC Executive Board Meeting - Summary Notes

Dear Salim,

Replying on Hans Petter's behalf as he is currently on holiday.

The Charging Scheme, including the annual membership fee and sign-up 
fee, is voted on by members every year at the spring General Meeting. At 
the last GM in May, members voted to continue with the 2023 charging 
scheme (including fees) for another year. Additional fees for ASNs and 
transfer requests were also rejected by the membership. You can find the 
voting results from the GM at:

https://www.ripe.net/participate/meetings/gm/meetings/may-2023/documentation-and-archives/i-voting-report-gm-may-2023-1.pdf 


Technically, the board or members could add a resolution to any GM 
agenda to increase or introduce a new fee. However, there are currently 
no plans to do this.

Kind regards,

Simon-Jan Haytink
Chief Financial Officer
RIPE NCC


On 14/08/2023 12:38, Hinai, Salim IDCO42 via members-discuss wrote:
> Hans
> 
> Thanks for sharing below information , however are we expecting a new 
> Fee will added or any increase in the existing fee.
> 
> 
> Salim Hinai IDCO42
> IM&T Service Owner - Networking
> 	
> 
> Ph. +968 24670061| Office CC107
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: members-discuss <members-discuss-bounces at ripe.net> On Behalf Of 
> Hans Petter Holen
> Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 1:55 PM
> To: members-discuss at ripe.net
> Subject: [External] Re: [members-discuss] [news] 167th RIPE NCC 
> Executive Board Meeting - Summary Notes
> 
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> 
> 
> Dear Kaj,
> 
> Thank you for your mail and apologies for the delay in our response due 
> to summer vacation.
> 
> The main objective of our outsourced portfolio management is to minimise 
> risk by preserving the principal amount at the best possible return. Our 
> return target is the 12-month EURIBOR plus 50 basis points, with limited 
> volatility. The management fee is 0.5% per annum of the managed 
> portfolio, plus any associated transaction fees. The expected result 
> will depend on the 12-month EURIBOR, portfolio size, and number of 
> transactions. This is outlined in our recently-published treasury statute:
> https://www.ripe.net/about-us/legal/corporate-governance/treasury-statute
> 
> It is important to be clear that our goal isn’t necessarily to beat 
> inflation. We aim to maximise our return within a conservative risk 
> profile. If this partly offsets or outpaces inflation, then we will have 
> significantly improved our situation compared to the past. Considering 
> that all funds held by the RIPE NCC are membership funds, both we and 
> our board agree that maintaining a conservative approach is the correct 
> strategy. Our approach will be reviewed with the board on a yearly basis 
> and can always be updated if necessary.
> 
> In terms of our costs and budget, the message from the last GM was 
> received loud and clear. We are currently working to spend less than the 
> approved budget for 2023 and present an Activity Plan and Budget that 
> fits within the boundaries of the 2024 Charging Scheme that the 
> membership has approved. At the same time, we need to make sure we can:
> 
> - Maintain high service levels (and continue to improve them)
> - Retain and attract talent
> - Cope with reduced income from:
>      - The consolidation of LIR accounts
>      - Inability to collect fees from members in ‘Ultra High Risk’ 
> countries that our banks do not want to receive money from
>      - Other revenue at risk due to conflicts in our service region
> - Absorb the impacts of continued high inflation
> 
> A budget which reduces year-on-year over multiple years is challenging 
> if we assume that the membership values all of the services we provide. 
> This is something the results from our recent survey appear to support 
> (we will present the results of the survey at RIPE 87). It is therefore 
> not our intent at this stage to reduce or discontinue any activities 
> since, as a membership organisation, we provide services to all members, 
> and each individual member values our different services in their own 
> manner.
> 
> Even if we were to freeze our operations as they are currently, costs 
> would inevitably increase over time due to inflation. There may also be 
> unexpected events, such as urgent legal, regulatory, or political 
> threats that require us to respond and drive up costs as a result. The 
> sudden influx of potential sanctions cases in 2022 that required 
> investigation by our staff is one recent example of this. Requests also 
> come from the RIPE community that fall within our secretariat role, and 
> these will often have a cost attached. With all of this in mind, we 
> cannot rule out increasing membership fees in the future.
> 
> As a not-for-profit association funded by membership fees and operating 
> on a cost-recovery basis, there is only an indirect link between 
> services provided and income generated. Higher service levels could 
> potentially attract additional members, but after the IPv4 runout, we 
> see a stable membership with a decline in LIRs. This leaves us to look 
> for efficiency gains in terms of reducing our costs or ending or scaling 
> back some services. Ending services will mean laying off staff and 
> terminating existing contracts which will incur transition costs in the 
> short term. This is not something we are planning at this stage, though 
> we are committed to serving our membership while maintaining the health 
> of the RIPE NCC as an association.
> 
> We will continue to work closely with the Executive Board regarding our 
> 2024 Activity Plan and Budget and 2025 Charging Scheme. As always, we 
> will ensure that the membership has ample opportunity to provide 
> feedback on our proposed plans before they are approved by the Executive 
> Board in December.
> 
> Kind Regards,
> 
> Hans Petter Holen
> Managing Director and CEO
> RIPE NCC
> 
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