@MarkDWiseman

@MarkDWiseman

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

The Pension War Room™️ would like you to know that the ATA and good old yours truly have dropped a lawsuit on Travis. I am proud to be one of the applicants in this legal action. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

If you want more details, here is the press release from the ATA complete with pdfs of all the important documents. For those interested: fill yer boots! #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/Is…

The legal arguments are multifaceted. And, likely not to be solved until the SCC gets involved. But, here we are taking an important step. It is my position that Travis has violated both the Teachers' Pension Plan Act and the AIMCO Act in imposing an IMA. #AbLeg #AIMCOfail

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

The Pension War Room™️ would like to announce another public appearance at the Standing Committee on Private Members' Public Bills. The meeting starts Monday morning at 8:00 AM, you can get the video link at this page 👇👇👇 #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

assembly.ab.ca/assembly-busin…

@yomeeks

If you can't watch live a recording will be available later in the day.

@yomeeks will be doing a stakeholder presentations on Bill 208, Alberta Investment Management Corporation Amendment Act brought forward by @SPhillipsAB. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Bill 208 brings forward several changes to the AIMCO Act that are required, if not seriously overdue. It would remove the ability of TBF to issue "directives" to AIMCO. It would require the appointment of Directors to the AIMCO Board from each of the big pension plans. #AbLeg

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The ATRF is dropping the truth munitions! Check this shit out. Can you say boom?💣💣💣 When they say "public statements" they mean the incorrect MLA statements. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

atrf.com/teacher/news/c…

This is a new low for democracy. Elected officials saying things that are flat out wrong ("the GOA guarantees your pension!") or injurious to taxpayers ("the GOA assumes all unfunded liabilities!). #handsoffmypension #AbLeg

The MLAs have corrected their press lines, but not (to my knowledge) issued any retractions.

So to clarify: AIMCO broke off negotiations in November.

AIMCO is insisting on the clause that does not give ATRF full decision making control.🤮🤮

#somebullshithere #AbLeg #handsof

Read 9 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

@JasonCoppingAB

This is your daily pension announcement. Lots of you have heard back from your MLA with the the statement below👇. This one is from @JasonCoppingAB, but they are all the same. You need to go back at your MLAs HARD because this is some Stalin level disinformation. #AbLeg #abpoli

In no particular order I will run through the errors:

1. "the Alberta Government ...holds the liability of the ATRF plan.."

Absolutely, unequivocaly false. Read the Teachers' Pension Plan Act. Any liabilities are paid off 49% by the GOA/51% by the teachers. #AbLeg #abpoli

This is a risk shared plan, teachers pick up 51% of the financial risk. This is a benefit to the taxpayers. Not all plans in Canada are risk shared but ATRF sure as hell is.

(even the Fraser Institute admits this) #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ watched the Standing Committee on the Heritage Fund with great interest. The transcript and video are available below. You get all the greats: AIMCO Kevin and TBF Athana. #AbLeg #AIMCOfail

assembly.ab.ca/assembly-busin…

@SPhillipsAB

Question of the day goes to @SPhillipsAB who asked with a below benchmark 5 year performance, why have we paid out $57 million in pay and performance bonuses to the top 10 AIMCO execs? Performance bonuses for what? #AbLeg #handsoffmypension @premiamgmt

Remember, Heritage Fund 5 year return is 6.8%, well under the benchmark of 7.4%. We could have paid AIMCO managers to stay home for 5 years and we would have done better. #AbLeg

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: let's see how AIMCO is doing investing the Heritage Savings Trust Fund!
The latest quarterly report is available here. It is about the same size as ATRF. So good comparison. #AbLeg #Spoileralert #handsoffmypension
alberta.ca/heritage-savin…

Q2 for AIMCO returned 2.6% versus a bench of 2.1%. Not bad. The large print on the front page says the six month return is 7.7%. But it does not show the six month benchmark which was 8.8%.

That is sub-optimal performance. The value add is NEGATIVE 1.1% #thatsbad #AbLeg #notgood

What should the value add be:

"In the SIP&G, the Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance expects that the investments held by the Fund will return approximately 100 basis points, or 1% per annum, above the policy benchmark."

1% value add goal #thathurts

#AbLeg #swingandamiss

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement. The Travis goes balls to the wall edition! It has been a busy week in pensions, so I will again dive into the dung heap with an open mouth. First up Mark (AIMCO Chair) makes a statement...#ABLeg #handsoffmypension
aimco.ca/insights/messa…

Read it carefully, because most of what he wrote is true.

"These factors define the success of the Canadian model of pension management." True. But he needs to acknowledge that ATRF had for generations contributed to the success of the Canadian pension model. #ABLeg #AMCOfail

The real humdinger is:
"The terms and conditions included in the Ministerial Orders are in the best interest of both AIMCo and its clients and clearly align interests."

Nope. That is why 0 out of 4 pension plans have signed an agreement. Take that to your MLA. #ABLeg #handsoff

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement! The other shoe has dropped edition. The ATA put out this release today. Loyal Tweeps, you know that the ATRF and AIMCO have been negotiating an Investment Management Agreement (IMA) for the last year. #ABLeg #AIMCO

teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/Is…

@schill_dawg

Apparently, negotiations have failed and Travis has imposed an IMA by Ministerial Order on Dec 23.

Merry F***ing Christmas! @schill_dawg essentially calls Kevin a bitch! Read it and see. #ABLeg #AIMCOfail #Christmascameearly

You wouldn't know that it had become law as it isn't listed with all the other Ministerial Orders on the QP website. I didn't think that was legal, to sign an MO and then keep it hidden from people like me. But, oh well. Nobody has ever accused Travis of being a genius. #ABLeg

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room would like to thank the entire pension army as we get ready to welcome the new year! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Of course, I am still marinating in a loathsome broth, stuck on poor public policy and accountability. #ABLeg

On that note, I will again take a dip in the stinking, fetid cesspool of Alberta's public finance in the hopes of educating and inspiring. #ABLeg #travisfail

To quote a pension manager:
"In operation however, AIMCo has issues with alignment and dis-economies of scale... "

"As AIMCo has non-pension fund clients, its strategy is aligned more closely with an investment fund (focusing on returns) as opposed to a pension fund manager (focusing on the liabilities)."

VOLTS is one example of a strategy that is not appropriate for pensions. #ABLeg #fail

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your second daily pension announcement! Remember when Travis said that AIMCO will save beaucoup dollars due to economies of scale? I sure do.
The AIMCO "business case" claims costs will come in below 50 bps when ATRF is subsumed. #ABLeg #bullshit #travissucks

For comparison we should use CPPIB which is roughly 4 times larger than AIMCO ($410 bil vs $103 bil). Being larger with roughly the same investment operation it should have lower costs.....

...but it doesn't. Costs for CPPIB right around 90 bps. #ABLeg

That's right. Cost is roughly double. So much for economies of scale.

(This was predicted by academic research that shows dis-economies of scale kick in above $100 billion. Thank Bill Morneau for the research.)

Read 9 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: I want to straighten a few details out from the functionaries not the politicians. #AbLeg #travisfail

Re-upping this for commentary that I didn't have time for:

albertapolitics.ca/2020/05/ceos-l…

First, when Kevin chortled in superiority with:

"He also argued “media reporting has dramatically overstated the extent of the losses,” stating that “realized and unrealized losses to date are approximately $2.1 billion..." #ABLeg #AIMCOfail

Kevin and Athana are referencing initial reports of losses that were $4 billion ...revised numbers were "only" $2 billion lost. #stillashitton #fail

Now we find out that original $4 billion came from Kevin's mouth. ($2 billion realized +$2 billion unrealized). #ABLeg

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The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

The Pension War Room™️will celebrate throwback Thursday! Remember this witty rejoinder from Travis' Matt. #ABLeg Quote from this article. #fail

edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…

“Government contributes to each pension plan, and so Alberta taxpayers are partners and have a vested interest in the health of the plans,” said Jerrica Goodwin, press secretary for Finance Minister Travis Toews, in a Wednesday email." #ABLeg

Sure the GOA as a MINORITY CONTRIBUTOR has a vested interest in the plan. Problem is teachers have an interest that has been totally ignored here. What kind of advice are you getting Travis? #ABLeg #AIMCOfail #milburned

Read 9 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Management Employees Pension Plan edition! Unlike the teachers' plan, MEPP only has one sponsor namely Travis. So he can (and does) make unilateral decisions here. (Fun fact, AIMCO managers used to be members of this plan.) ##ABleg

First important fact, is that it is almost 2021 and they have not yet posted their 2019 Annual Report. Interesting choice. If you were a member of the plan you might want to inquire as to why that is. #ABLeg #travisfail #hidesomething

@premiamgmt

Next, I know this question is on your mind, how badly did the VOLTS debacle affect MEPP? Take a look @premiamgmt it is not pretty. #ABLeg #AIMCOfail

Read 9 tweets

Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ declares it nonperformance day! LAPP Q2 results are out and they speak for themselves. Less than benchmark for Q2, YTD, 1 year, and 4 year. #ABLeg #AIMCOfail #milburned

The organization with the highest executive salaries seems to receive the least scrutiny. I wonder why that is?

This is perfectly predictable as the value add for the last five years was lost with the VOLTS debacle. #ABLeg

The GOA seems to have repudiated joint governance. Next time (and there will be a next time) unexpected losses mount the plans should charge them to the GOA.

After all we are forced to use their investment manager. #ABLeg #riskexposure

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Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room is trying to make sense of reducing our already low employment standards! Our standards are so low they are almost nonexistent. The best roundup is here. #ABLeg #AIMCOfail #milburned

albertapolitics.ca/2020/07/albert…

In pension news Travis, who as one commentator put it, was supposed to be the adult in the room among cabinet ministers (thanks Daveberta). Well, not so much. Travis, in an email to concerned constituents, has doubled down on his pension delusions. #ABLeg #betheadult

To quote Travis: "Government has no intention of changing its policy of consolidating investment management under AIMCo. This policy will reduce costs paid by pension plans."

As I have shown so many times before, demonstrably false. #ABLeg

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Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: Here is a slightly more technical hot take on what happened at AIMCO to lose $2 billion. Apparently, not learning from the mistakes of the sub-prime mortgage crisis is bad! #ABLeg

bnnbloomberg.ca/risk-model-fro…

"Value-at-risk calculations like the ones AIMCo used were partly blamed for underestimating the risks of the subprime mortgage derivatives that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, leading banks to incur far larger losses than they had expected were possible." #ABLeg #AIMCOfail

Remember the (super thin) review of the VOLTS strategy is on the AIMCO website. I am left with some questions. In particular, the review included:

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Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ takes a walk on the septic field of the Alberta Pension Plan.

Let me analyze and educate about some of the issues. #ABLeg #AIMCOfail

edmonton.ctvnews.ca/kenney-ndp-tra…

The current UCP MLA talking points include an APP that would bring $40 billion of assets to good ol 'berta for AIMCO to manage and at lower cost to boot.

That is, of course, after a nice 'n democratic multi-million dollar referendum. #ABLeg

Please let me analyze the current talking points.

First, most of the assets (>50%) would be managed out of AIMCO's Toronto office, so they would not be "brought back" to Alberta. #ABLeg

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Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ seeks to expand your knowledge!

I want to be clear, I don't mean to disparage AIMCO. In fact, Kevin started this with his op ed. His job as an employee is to keep AIMCO out of the news. #fail #ABLeg

In my appearance before the standing committee I was asked why ATRF had never chosen to invest with AIMCO. I ran out of time after the first part of my answer. So, in the interest of full transparency, I will give a complete answer here: #ABLeg #AIMCOfail

ATRF never used AIMCO as an investment manager because:
1. None of their current clients would give them a good reference. (this is the one point I got out in the hearing) #ABLeg

2. Poor track record. (neg articles in financial press, poor during financial crisis) #ABLeg

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Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️ has been invited!

"Alberta Legislative Assembly Committee Review of Bill 203: invitation to provide an oral presentation."

The Committee is seeking input from stakeholders...
Monday, July 6, 2020
8:30 a.m.
#ABLeg

I will attend!

Let the truth run free! I love democracy in action.

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that stakeholders are being consulted for Bill 203 which undoes parts of Bill 22? Which no one was consulted on? #ABLeg #democracyishard #handsoffmypension

My focus will be on the joint nature of ATRF since 1938. I will remind everyone that GOA contributes 49% teachers 51% to a plan they just took unilateral action against.
#ABLeg #handsoffmycpp
.

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Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

@SPhillipsAB

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ has @SPhillipsAB bring the fire! Not only is the Private Member Bills committee meeting tomorrow AM, but the Public Accounts Committee is meeting too! @SPhillipsAB is the chair! Look what is on the agenda: #ABLeg

"In particular, I will be asking questions related to comparisons between ATRF’s past performance under its own management and the performance of the Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP), which has historically been managed by Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)."

And "We now know that AIMCo executives stand to gain millions in bonuses from increasing the size of the organization’s portfolio, and that AIMCo pushed to take over the management of ATRF. "

I ALWAYS KNEW THIS! THANK GOD THIS SEES THE LIGHT OF DAY! #ABLeg #aimcofail

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Greg Meeker

@yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️ says WTF? Read this news release..... #AIMCOfail #ABLeg #OMG Mark Wiseman AIMCO chair? Did I read that right?

newswire.ca/news-releases/…

Please, this is an announcement carefully planned for Friday at 4 PM. Travis is clear there will be no questions and no accountability on this. The good news is that Mark has no current ties to AIMCO so he will feel free to fire Kevin and the lot. #goodjob #ABLeg

But read this %&***# news release, it is suspect..... Maybe I will just give the pension army (and reporters) some questions that spring to mind...about an issue that clearly the GOA does not want to discuss. #ABLeg

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