To the Shareholders and
Audit Committee of the
HSBC Investor Portfolios (formerly Republic
Portfolios):
In planning and performing our audit of the financial
statements of the HSBC Investor Portfolios - HSBC
Investor Fixed Income Portfolio, HSBC Investor
International Equity Portfolio, and HSBC Investor Small
Cap Equity Portfolio, for the year ended October 31, 2000,
we considered its internal control, including control
activities for safeguarding securities, in order to
determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of
expressing our opinion on the financial statements and
to comply with the requirements of Form N-SAR, not to
provide assurance on internal control.
The management of the HSBC Investor Portfolios is
responsible for establishing and maintaining internal
control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates
and judgments by management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of controls.
Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit
pertain to the entity's objective of preparing financial
statements for external purposes that are fairly
presented in conformity with accounting principles
generally accepted in the United States of America.
Those controls include the safeguarding of assets
against unauthorized acquisition, use, or
disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal
control, errors or fraud may occur and not be
detected. Also, projection of any evaluation
of internal control to future periods is subject
to the risk that it may become inadequate because
of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness
of the design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not
necessarily disclose all matters in internal control
that might be material weaknesses under standards
established by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition
in which the design or operation of one or more
internal control components does not reduce to a
relatively low level the risk that misstatements
caused by error or fraud in amounts that would be
material in relation to the financial statements
being audited may occur and not be detected within
a timely period by employees in the normal course
of performing their assigned functions. However,
we noted no matters involving internal control and
its operation, including controls for safeguarding
securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses
as defined above as of October 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and
use of management, the Audit Committee of the HSBC
Investor Portfolios and the Securities and Exchange
Commission and is not intended to be and should not
be used by anyone other than these specified parties.
Columbus, Ohio
December 8, 2000
