Michael Sabia, president of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, said the organization needs to come to terms with new financial realities and concentrate primarily on riskmanagement.

In a statement, Sabia said the Caisse must adapt to the current reality of the financial markets, which is very different from that of recent years and whose impacts include a decrease in activity in some areas, more volatile markets and more stringent risk management.

The pension-fund manager saw the value of its assets tumble by nearly $40 billion in 2008.

The Caisse has made risk management its top priority and has accelerated implementation of the three-year development plan adopted by its board of directors in 2008.

The timetable for deployment of the plan has been shortened to 18 months and most of the priority projects will be completed by the end of 2009.

Overall, the changes involve the abolition of 55 positions but they also create 24 positions, mainly in risk management. The Caisse had 813 employees as of last December 31.