Peter Pontikes, executive vice-president of public equities at the Alberta government-owned pension fund, departed this week. Portfolio manager David Triska is also out. (The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: The departures follow a $2.1-billion loss on a bet that markets wouldn’t swing rapidly. AIMCo declined to comment on why Pontikes, who was the third-highest paid employee, left the fund. These departures are the latest shift in the senior ranks. Last week, AIMCo announced former CPPIB CEO Mark Wiseman would become its chair on July 1. The pension’s problems extend beyond a single bad bet. In March, The Logic reported that AIMCo lost an estimated $5.7 billion in public equity holdings alone after stocks dropped due to COVID-19. As of last year, AIMCo’s results had fallen short of value-added expectations for the prior 11 years and six months, according to the Local Authorities Pension Plan. These departures come as the provincial government is considering giving AIMCo more responsibility. It’s floated the idea of moving Alberta’s Canada Pension Plan obligations into the provincial pension and is planning to give it responsibility for an $18-billion teachers’ retirement plan.