Alberta government fires AIMCo board to ‘reset’ pension management fund

November 7, 2024 Canuck

The provincial government has removed the entire board of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).

In an statement Thursday afternoon, the province said it has decided to “reset” the focus of the provincial corporation, and will be appointing a new board chair within 30 days.

AIMCo manages more than $160 billion in assets, according to its most recent annual report.

It is responsible for the investments of several provincial government funds, including the Heritage Savings Trust Fund. It also invests money from the pension funds of hundreds of thousands of Alberta public sector workers.

For now, Finance Minister Nate Horner has been appointed the sole director and chair for AIMCo, according to the province.

The appointments of 10 members of the AIMCo board of directors were rescinded in an order-in-council Thursday.

The same order-in-council appointed Horner the board’s chair for a term to expire Sept. 30, 2025.

The province’s statement says the move comes “after years of AIMCo consistently failing to meet its mandated benchmark returns.”

The government also pointed to “significant” increases in operating costs, management fees and staffing without corresponding return on investment.

Horner will not make any investment decisions or receive compensation in his temporary role at AIMCo, the province said.

AIMCo acts as an investment manager for pension plans for Alberta teachers, municipal police officers, academic and professional staff at universities and municipal and provincial public servants, among others.

The United Conservative Party government, under former premier Jason Kenney, passed a bill in 2019 requiring the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund to use AIMCo as its investment manager.

The bill also required three large public sector pension plans to use only AIMCo as their investment manager.

In 2020, AIMCo announced a bet on market volatility led to a loss of $2.1 billion.

In the aftermath that loss, CEO Kevin Uebelein, who had been at the helm since 2014, said he would leave the organization by June 2021. Evan Siddall replaced him as CEO shortly after.

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