The AB Teacher Pension War Room Profile picture
Sep 19, 2020 16 tweets 7 min read Read on X
This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ is in "I told you so" mode. Much to our chagrin. Take a look at the quote below from the inquest into the VOLTS debacle at AIMCO. This is what @ChristinaNDP and @SPhillipsAB were getting at... #ABLeg
That quote is from the scope of the inquest saying compensation needs to be looked at as being a cause of the VOLTS losses.

Yet in all the recommendations, compensation is never mentioned. Never in the positive ("AIMCO's bonus structure is fine") ...#ABLeg
and never in the negative ("AIMCO's bonus structure incentivized dangerous risk taking by individuals hoping to earn their next big bonus.")

And, to be clear, we got no clear answer from AIMCO in the Standing Committee meeting. #ABLeg #wherewaskevin
The institutional investment industry grapples with this issue. Huge bonuses are paid out for above average performance. This can cause normally cautious managers to throw caution to the wind....

See the failures of Lehman Brothers and Barrings Bank for current examples. #AbLeg
I thought I would also bring you some gems from the Bill 203 Committee Hearing from last June. Where we heard such canards as:

“I would like to be very clear that AIMCo has a consistent record of outperforming their mandated benchmarks.”

#ABLeg #thatsagoodone
The truth is, even leaving out the VOLTS losses....

Between AIMCo’s inception and December 31, 2019, the LAPP portfolio returned an annualized 6.63% versus a LAPP policy benchmark return of 6.92%.

#ABLeg Who is meeting benchmark? #idiot
If a potty mouthed War Room wanted to include the Volts losses then.....

Between AIMCo’s inception and May 31, 2020, the LAPP portfolio returned an annualized 6.18% versus a LAPP policy benchmark return of 6.76%.

#ABLeg Oh that sucks! No wonder Kevin stayed away.
To quote an (unnamed) industry exec....
Although one can selectively choose interim time periods since AIMCo’s inception where AIMCo has exceed benchmarks, doing so is disingenuous as it does not provide a complete picture of AIMCo’s entire body of work as a legislated monopoly.
Do you remember when Athana (Deputy Minister of TBF) said...

“I think it’s important to understand the nature of the stretch goals before commenting on the extent to which AIMCo has or has not met them.”

That is misleading. #ABLeg
Value add expectations should be met over suitable time periods. If they can't be met the AMCO Board needs to lay everyone off and index the lot. #ABLeg
I can't remember who said this last June...
“Bill 22 was developed to forestall the possibility that each of the pension funds could or would develop unique pension management....elimination of existing economies of scale and potentially outsourcing outside of Alberta …” #ABLeg
When the reality is ....
AIMCo retains offices in Toronto, London, and Luxembourg, and has also been exploring the opening of an office in Asia. AIMCo already outsources outside of Alberta – numerous external managers domiciled outside of Alberta.
#ABLeg
Was it Athana that said...
"Essentially, what we were envisioning is kind of like another AIMCo being developed as a component of ATRF. Our conclusion was that the expertise – and AIMCo does have an excellent reputation – existed already in Edmonton." #ABLeg
Don't get me started. Excellent reputation? Do you want to walk that back now? In light of events? The government is not serious about fostering diversification of industry outside of oil and gas – it’s wrong to presume that Edmonton can only have one investment manager. #ABLeg
And one more from Athana, your Deputy Minister of TBF:
"It’s why I’m so distressed when we hear the suggestion that Bill 22 reversed joint governance. I think that that is unfortunate, that that is one of the claims that’s been made about Bill 22. It’s totally false" #ABLeg
Disingenuous...
The façade of joint governance may remain but the inability for pension clients to exercise choice in its service providers should its service providers fail, severely limits the pension plans’ ability to exercise their fiduciary responsibilities. #ABLeg

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More from @yomeeks

Mar 29
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️ can't believe this needs to be said again. But, after some side comments from some local UCP MLAs, here we go:
1. The GOA is a minority (49%) contributor to the
teachers' retirement plan. #ableg
2. The GOA does **NOT** guarantee pensions. They are guaranteed by the assets in the plan. (There was a guarantee until 1992.)
3. Since the GOA contributes 49%, they appoint half the Board Members to the ATRF Board. #AbLeg
4. The ATRF Board is the trustee with a fiduciary
duty to the plan members. Selecting investment
strategy and **in any normal world** hiring
investment managers is their responsibility. #AbLeg
Read 5 tweets
Feb 11
This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ is awash in the irony that is the TBA faction of the UCP caucus. Did the slide deck used to convince caucus of DS's latest flaky idea have data from a fake polling firm? I feel the need to know. #AbLeg
We are expecting the @ATRFPension Annual Report (to Aug 23) to come out this week. We will be able to see just how far @aimcoinvests has come to saving us $40 million each and every year. My informed opinion is they have saved teachers $0. Every claim AIMCO made was false. #AbLeg
Here again, for posterity's sake, is the **top level** analysis done by AIMCO and provided to TBF. This really shows two things: AIMCO can't recognize the Mother of All conflicts of interest, and is AIMCO is incapable of calculating a risk adjusted return. #AbLeg Image
Read 7 tweets
Dec 12, 2023
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️ reveals this King's Bench pension decision. If you recall, LAPP, PSPP and SFPP are holding @aimcoinvests and GOA accountable for $1.33 billion dollars of VOLTS losses. #ABLeg
canlii.org/en/ab/abkb/doc…
It looks like the GOA tried to sever themselves from the (top secret) arbitration hearing. So your hardworking pension plans needed to go to King's Bench Court to have the GOA again added as a defendant. Which they were, with costs. #AbLeg
This is a thorough ruling. It is hard to think that they even argued such a stupid position: that the GOA had no responsibility for @aimcoinvests even though they own them and are responsible for appointing board members. #AbLeg
Read 6 tweets
Dec 10, 2023
The Pension War Room™️ notes that you must be disappointed if you expected someone with a medical background as CEO of AHS. Instead you get Athana. Famous for pension misinformation back in the day. (She was DM of TBF during pension theft.) #AbLeg

edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-health…
A bunch of my old tweets got new life with this announcement. I had catalogued stupid and untrue things she had said about pensions. Stuff like "the GOA assumes all of the pension liability" and "the GOA pays for public sector pensions".
She seemed unaware that teachers, for instance, contribute 51% to their pensions and assume 51% of the liability.
She also seemed unaware that ordering a fiduciary trustee to use certain investment managers will bite the GOA in the ass again and again. #AbLeg
Read 4 tweets
Oct 14, 2023
The Pension War Room™️ will again sink into the effluent of pension discourse with a cautionary tale from 1992. The teachers' plan was seriously underfunded (mostly due to GOA).

Teachers were talked into a solution that involved them contribution 1.6% of pay. #AbLeg Image
In hindsight we see that was a number with little basis in reality. And, after teachers started making that contribution it was found to be "wrong" that they needed to contribute 3.1% of pay. Nearly double.

Bait and switch 'berta style. #AbLeg
I'm afraid that the APP is following the same proven strategy. A lowball contribution rate until **after** decisions are made. Then **mistakes were made** and the contribution rate is all of a sudden higher than CPP. #AbLeg
Read 6 tweets
Jan 28, 2023
This is your daily pension announcement! Good news from @ATRFPension, the Annual Report has just dropped. I need some time to analyze the entire thing but the great news is...
#ABLeg #handsoffmypension
atrf.com/about-atrf/202…
The plan funded ration is up to 99% (up from 81% in 2014). This all important ratio means that assets almost = liabilities. This improvement is the result of important work the ATRF Board did over the last 10 years. #ABLeg
If you recall, some years ago Redford and Horner tried to cut the other provincial pension plans because they thought their funded ratios were too low. (maybe 80%)
Fast forward: all those plans above 100% and looking good. #ABLeg #neverbelieveapolitician
Read 7 tweets

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