ATB Archives - AB Pol Econ

2Aug

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Budget, Credit Ratings, Energy, Environment, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Loan Losses, Politics

The Big Two mandates….

Over the past three weeks, Premier Smith has been busy issuing “mandate letters” to her cabinet colleagues. These mandate letters are ministers’ marching orders and are an excellent guide of future legislative and regulatory initiatives by the newly minted Smith government. Given the importance of five ministries which represent the most important conduits of public spending (Health and Education) and strategic public policy and intergovernmental relations (Energy and Minerals, Environment and Protected Areas, and Treasury Board and Finance), this post, and a succeeding post, looks at the central elements of Smith’s agenda. This post looks examines what I call the Big Two Mandates- Energy and Treasury Board and Finance. Energy and Minerals Smith’s letter to Jean, begins, excluding th...

5Feb

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Financial Institutions, Opinion/Research, Politics

Open Reply to Free Alberta Strategy letter of 2 February to donors on article in The Conversation

On 30 January The Conversation ran an article of mine entitled What the Free Alberta Strategy gets wrong about Canada’s banking system that was reprinted in Abpolecon.ca. On Thursday at 8:01 a.m. I received the following email from the Free Alberta Strategy (FAS). Robert, The Free Alberta Strategy is back in the news again! This time though, it’s thanks to an attack piece, which we thought we'd take some time to respond to. In a new article published in the federal-government-funded “The Conversation” publication, Robert L. Ascah, a researcher at the also-federal-government-funded Parkland Institute, attempts to lay the hatchet to the Free Alberta Strategy. In his piece, entitled “What the Free Alberta Strategy gets wrong about Canada’s banking system,” Mr. Ascah argues that the Alberta...

30Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Banks, Financial Institutions, Fiscal History, Opinion/Research, Politics, Uncategorized

What the Free Alberta Strategy gets wrong about Canada’s banking system

Reproduced with permission from The Conversation. January 30, 2023 2.05pm EST Author Robert L. Ascah Robert L. Ascah is a Friend of The Conversation. Research Fellow, The Parkland Institute, University of Alberta Disclosure statement Robert (Bob) L. Ascah is affiliated with Alberta NDP. Partners University of Alberta provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. University of Alberta provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR. View all partners We believe in the free flow of information Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence. Email Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Print What is the Free Alberta Strategy, the co-creation of two lawyers and a Calgary political scientis...

11Dec

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB, Banks, Financial Institutions

Hyndman papers- Pocklington introduced to the Alberta government via ATB- 1983

The following extract, from Lou Hyndman's files when he was Provincial Treasurer, is an undated, unsigned briefing note about Alberta Treasury Branches (now ATB Financial) concerning a refinancing and resecuring of debt. From the note it appears that Pocklington's primary bank dealings were not with ATB but with another undisclosed financial institution. According to the note, dealings between ATB and Pocklington were "satisfactory." Pocklington at that time had interests in Edmonton Motors, the Oilers and Fidelity Trust whose ownership had been effectively taken from Pocklington. At the bottom of the briefing note was the very clear statement that ATB nor the Government of Alberta was interested in acquiring any interest in the Oilers' hockey club. The $11-million debenture soon gr...

22Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Banks, Energy, Environment, Financial Institutions

Central bank, OSFI take reins on climate change- Alberta’s oil and gas economy will be changed by federal regulators

Updated 7 February 2022 On Friday 14 January the Bank of Canada and Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released a report on a pilot study respecting the potential impact of climate change on Canada's major financial institutions. Canada's central bank and OSFI are jointly responsible for the stability of Canada's financial system. As international organizations mobilize resources to understand the linkages between national and global climate change policy shifts, there is a growing unease among regulators on how prepared banks and insurers are in understanding and managing credit risk and market risk of clients who are especially exposed to climate change policies. Bank of Canada, Ottawa Source: Bank of Canada See my article in The Conversatio...

2Aug

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Politics

Hyndman Papers: Treasury Branches (Part 2)

The 1980s brought what some considered to be unconscionably high interest rates to Canadians and Albertans. in 1979 Albertans went to the polls. A key policy measure was interest shielding program which assisted Treasury Branches' borrowers. The below memo written on behalf of the de facto inner cabinet succinctly terminated the program. ALBERTA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL FROM: Harry Hobbs Deputy Minister TO: Honourable Lou Hyndman Provincial Treasurer DATE: May 28, 1980 SUBJECT: TREASURY BRANCHE INTEREST RATES At its meeting of May 26, 1980, the Finance, Priorities and Co-ordination Cabinet Committee agreed that Treasury Branches would discontinue shielding of interest rates in view of the curre...

27Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Banks, Financial Institutions, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

Hyndman Papers- ATB and the chartered banks

In the following correspondence between the Provincial Treasurer and TD-Bank's vice-president of the Alberta South Division, a longstanding complaint by the chartered banks about unfair competition from Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB) is revealed. Backdrop In the late 1970s, the North American economy faced surging inflation rates in the low teens and Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Paul Volcker was determined to drive the economy into recession by imposing high interest rates. The Bank of Canada, led by Gerald Bouey followed suit and Canada's bank rate approached 20 per cent. Inevitably, heavily indebted famers, home buyers, and businesses appealed to various orders of government to shield them from the effects of high interest rates. As the correspondence reveals, Alberta's Treasur...

20Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Politics

Hyndman papers: Treasury Branches (Part 1)

In these excerpts from the Hyndman papers are glimpses of both the political and administrative issues associated with a provincial government owning a de facto bank. The first memorandum, from the Provincial Treasurer to his deputy, suggests that just prior to the memo's execution an M.L.A., irate at being surprised that a Treasury Branch in his/her constituency had closed or was about to close, and they had been not informed. The closure of bank branches in rural areas during the 1980s and 1990s caused the federal government to require the banks to go though a reporting process and the giving of notice to communities about the intended branch closures. This was also adopted by the Alberta government around 2000 and still is included in the Mandate and Roles document which outlines a ...

3Jun

By Bob Ascah1 Comment

Agencies, ATB

ATB reports highest operating revenue ever- profit seems secondary

On 21 May ATB Financial released its 2020-21 annual report before its virtual public general meeting. Media pick-up was light with Postmedia reporting the lukewarm results. ATB's financial reporting over the past four years places great emphasis on "operating revenue" and not net profit. This would appear to fly in the face of a new statutory provision in the ATB Financial Act that requires ATB, in carrying on its business, to: (a) manage its business in a commercial and cost-effective manner,(b) seek to earn risk-adjusted rates of return that are similar to or better than the returns of comparable financial institutions in both the short term and the long term, and(c) avoid an undue risk of loss by prudently managing its business, which includes establishin...

8Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Budget, Economic Data

Alberta Treasury Branches: Strategic Listening Posts

From the Provincial Archives of Alberta's collection of papers from the late Lou Hyndman comes an interesting case of the economic intelligence capacity of the Province's financial institution. As the Alberta cabinet's anxiety rose following the October 1980 federal budget and National Energy Program, evidence was being gathered on how damaging the federal policies were to the provincial economy. At the end of August 1981 the Office of the Superintendent of Alberta Treasury Branches (at the time the Superintendent of ATB was Fred Sparrow) prepared to update what were called "economic Assessment Reports" aggregated from Treasury Branch managers across the province. ATB logo pin Source: Pinterest The highly summarized five-page report divided the province into three "divisions"- Northern...