ATB Archives - Page 2 of 3

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 establishing...

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,...

2Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB, Government Finances, Intergovernmental, Politics

2020- Best of, Worst of Times Year in Review

In this look-back at 2020, we summarize our thoughts and opinions on some of the key stories in 2020- news, analysis and opinion by Abpolecon.ca. COVID-19 and a drastic drop in oil prices landed like a hammer on Alberta's economy and political landscape. News 28 February Provincial Budget was full of optimism- little did we know. I raised the flag of what's Plan B? 31 March On the final day of the 2019-20 fiscal year, the Alberta cabinet passed Order in Council 104/2020 which authorized the “President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance to make advances to or purchase securities of the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission.” Alberta taxpayers had bought a stake in the Keystone XL The Minister of Finance was authorized to borrow up to $2 billion "for th...

21Dec

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB, Financial Institutions, Loan Losses, Politics

Bill 44 brings Alberta governments new supervisory powers over ATB Financial

Flying under the radar, the Finance Minister on 3 November introduced Bill 44 the Financial Statutes Amendment Act, an innocuous sounding Bill with important implications for ATB Financial. Minister Toews described the Bill as reducing red tape for "Alberta job creators while improving the resilience of Alberta's financial institutions." The Bill will improve Alberta’s regulatory environment and the competitiveness of Alberta’s financial sector. It will help Alberta attract much-needed investment and job creation in support of our economic recovery plan, and it will balance the government’s commitment to responsible oversight of Alberta’s financial institutions with their need to compete and evolve. However underneath the standard rhetoric of red tape reduction, job creation, and investme...

11Dec

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

ATB Financial silently announces a surprising profit

As has now become the customary, on 19 November ATB quietly released its second quarter financial statement. Postmedia and The Globe and Mail did not report the rather surprising profit turnaround at the publicly-owned financial institution. The provincial agency's news release entitled "Helping Albertans move forward" speaks of the assistance ATB has given many of its borrowers, courtesy of a mandate of the Kenney government. According to the release ATB has "reached out" to an unspecified "thousands of consumer and business customers who participated in our relief program to draw up personalized plans supporting their financial future." Consistent with government efforts to attract investment and diversify the Alberta economy, the release states: ATB is helping...

ATB CEO Executive Compensation – unwrapped

28Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB

ATB CEO Executive Compensation – unwrapped

This article examines CEO executive compensation at Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB Financial) since it became a provincial agency or Crown corporation, in 1997. The focus of this article is how the return on capital or equity and the pay of the CEO are related over a 23-year period. Also, the question of fairness of compensation in relation to compensation of senior government officials, average ATB salaries, and the CEO of Canadian Western Bank (CWB) is canvassed. [The data used is the total of salary and benefits or total compensation and comes from ATB's annual reports. A separate PDF of the article and PowerPoint/PDF of the figures is produced at the bottom of the article for better viewing of the charts.} Background In 1994, Treasurer Jim Dinning was facing persistent and difficult q...

Another Downgrade from Moody’s: Aa2 to Aa3

4Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB, Credit Ratings

Another Downgrade from Moody’s: Aa2 to Aa3

Analysis and Opinion On 2 October 2020, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the Province's debt to Aa3 from Aa2 while revising the outlook to Stable from Rating under Review. The short report and review was initiated on 31 August 2020 shortly after the provincial government's skeletal First Quarter Fiscal Update. The downgrade leaves Alberta one notch above the single A rating category. Downgrades in theory mean the borrower will have to pay higher rates of interest on its debt. The downgrade was expected and gave a balanced view on the fiscal picture acknowledging the province's strong liquidity position and the province's fiscal capacity to "enact additional tax measures to support revenue growth, which nevertheless the provincial governments have been reluctant to fully use in recent y...

24Aug

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB

ATB quietly reports another losing quarter- Analysis and Opinion

Curtis Stange, ATB President and CEO Source ATB.com On Thursday 13 August, ATB Financial issued its financial results for its quarter ending 30 June 2020. The rosy press release "Supporting Alberta's economic recovery" acknowledged the "triple impact event" of COVID--19, oil price shock, and market volatility, while affirming the results "demonstrate its financial strength while supporting customers." Buried in the news release was the fact that ATB had lost $114 million in the quarter driven mainly by another $245 million provision for loan loss. This is the second consecutive quarterly loss for ATB which lost $93 million in the previous quarter. Not to be deterred by persistent negative news, the release boasted: In the first quarter, ATB delivered solid operating revenue of $424.6 m...

15Jun

By Bob Ascah1 Comment

Agencies, ATB, Uncategorized

ATB Financial: how results compare

CAUTION: Writing this blog has been the most challenging undertaking since I began Albertarecessionwatch.com (now Abpolecon.ca) four years ago. Writing about a former employer and one of the "Crown jewels" of Alberta's public sector and knowing so many former colleagues still working at ATB creates a dilemma when examining critically this institution's financial condition. ATB's financial condition should be of interest to all Albertans who have a stake in the success, or failure, of this venerable institution. This post has been frustrating to write because there is so much information available on banking institutions used to compare ATB's performance. The ocean of financial information has so many layers built up over years by both internal organizational dynamics as well as external r...

1Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB

ATB facing headwinds (Part 1)

Directors and Politics ATB Financial will have three new directors as it charts a challenging course forward. On 13 May, Jim Davidson, Andrew S. Fraser, and J. Robert Logan were quietly appointed to ATB's board effective 16 June 2020 for three- year terms. At the same time Wendy Henkelman (a director since 2014) and Mary Ellen Neilson (director since 2017) were re-appointed. No press release has been issued to date by either ATB or the Treasury Board President and Minister of Finance, although at ATB's virtual public annual meeting, the new directors were expected to be introduced. Given the surprising absence of public disclosure, the following disclosure is a well educated guess of who these new board members are. Jim DavidsonSource: https://oilandgascouncil.com/event-speakers/...