Pension Pulse

Bryan McGovern of Benefits Canada reports on how OMERS is redefining risk management: Last year, the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System embarked on a journey to redefine its risk management strategy, with the process pushing the organization to separate its views on risk into three categories. After becoming the OMERS’ chief risk officer in June 2023, Deb Barnes asked the organization’s board for a mandate to refresh the risk framework and risk appetite statement. “A big part of my role is to help the organization see the risks that matter, not get distracted, focus our attention on the right place and then have the right conversations in the right forums to make sure that we’re dealing with them appropriately.” The first new category is uncompensated risks, meaning operational challenges, such as fraud, conduct, trading or processing errors. The second risk bucket relates to necessary investment risks, which carry a strategic benefit but r...

Layan Odeh of Bloomberg reports  Alberta Fund’s severance costs jump 383% after executive purge: Alberta Investment Management Corp. paid nearly C$6 million ($4.4 million) in severance and other benefits to a departing chief investment officer who was in the job for about 20 months. Marlene Puffer left the public money manager last September, several weeks before the provincial government stunned staff by firing the entire board, Chief Executive Officer Evan Siddall and other executives. The severance disclosure is contained in Aimco’s new annual report, which says the firm shelled out a total of C$7.9 million in termination pay for “key management personnel” during the year, a 383% increase from the previous year. In sacking Siddall and the board, the government accused them of allowing costs to soar as they added new international offices and increased staff. Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was named Aimco’s chair and it’s currently operating under an int...