News Archive

"While a surplus signals strong funding health, it also raises questions about how best to deploy excess assets within regulatory constraints. To make informed choices, plan sponsors need clear insight into what drives pension surpluses, how excess assets can be applied effectively and the compliance requirements that protect both organizational financial goals and employees' long‑term retirement security."  MORE >>

"The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans increased by $10 billion during January ... The funding surplus improved to $109 billion during the month ... Pension liabilities fell during the period due to a small increase in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value those liabilities. As of January 31, the funded ratio climbed to 109.0%, up from 108.2% at the beginning of the year."  MORE >>

"The net financial position of the single-employer insurance program is projected to increase significantly over the next 10 years ... The net financial position of the multiemployer insurance program is likely to remain positive for more than 40 years."  MORE >>

"[T]he court held that the plaintiff had Article III standing to seek plan reformation under Section 502(a)(2). The court emphasized that the plaintiff plausibly alleged a concrete injury -- reduced monthly benefits -- and that reformation of the plan's actuarial assumptions could redress that injury.... The court reaffirmed that Section 502(a)(2) claims are inherently representative and must be brought on behalf of the plan. Enforcing an individual-only arbitration clause would therefore operate as a prospective waiver of a statutory remedy[.]" [Duke v. Luxottica U.S. Holdings Corp., No. 24-3207 (2d Cir. Feb. 5, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Delphi Technologies ... was spun off from General Motors (GM) in 1999. In May 2009, Delphi's pension plans were terminated, and responsibility for the payment of plan participants' benefits was turned over to the [PBGC]... Some participants in Delphi pension plans whose benefits were reduced by PBGC claimed that their pension plans were wrongly terminated and have sought relief via both judicial and legislative processes." [IF12171 updated Feb. 5, 2026]  MORE >>

"[T]wo former DOL officials have now weighed in supporting the plaintiffs in an ERISA litigation suit.... [T]he brief hearkens back to the environment pre-ERISA, and the history with the Studebaker-Packard Corporation's bankruptcy, and subsequent loss of pensions by its workforce that (eventually) provided the impetus for [ERISA].... They write that the suit 'plausibly alleges a concrete and particularized injury: a non-speculative, materially increased risk of nonpayment that is fairly traceable to the challenged fiduciary decision and redressable through ERISA's remedial provisions, including equitable relief.' "  [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate pension plans is estimated to have increased by 1.0 percentage point in January, ending the month at 105.3% ... The change in funded ratio observed this month is primarily due to a 0.9 percentage point rise in asset value, combined with a 0.3 percentage point reduction in liability value. The aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have increased by 6.1% over the trailing twelve months."  MORE >>

"Though the DOL argued in its filing that the plaintiffs continue to receive benefits following the PRT, the former DOL officials argued that insisting the plaintiffs lacked standing would disrupt the balance of ERISA and that the PRT substantially increased the risk of nonpayment of benefits, thereby giving the plaintiffs standing in the case." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"[FASB] approved the recommendation of its Emerging Issues Task Force earlier this month that benefits for market-based cash balance plans, which are legally classified as defined benefit plans, be valued by setting the discount rate equal to the assumed interest crediting rate.... [T]he proposed new accounting calculation would make it simpler and more sensible for plan sponsors to estimate their market-based cash balance pension obligations."  MORE >>

"The [DOL's amicus brief], which argued the Lockheed retirees lack standing to challenge the company's pension de-risking transaction, is inconsistent with [ERISA] and would undermine the statute's standards by 'insulating fiduciary conduct from review precisely when judicial oversight is most needed,' Phyllis Borzi and Ali Khawar told the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a Jan. 30 amicus brief backing the Lockheed workers." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"The standing doctrine advocated by Lockheed is inapplicable to the circumstances here and would license Lockheed or any other plan sponsor to select almost any insurer not in immediate danger of failing in the near future, even those with lower ratings and riskier business models than Athene. And ... with annuity contracts the future can extend for many decades." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"A well-funded plan is certainly a nice achievement, but it does come with some new challenges -- namely, higher contribution volatility.... [T]here will certainly be years with negative returns, and it is not unheard of for assets to return -15% in a single year. And if your assumption is a 6.5% return, that -15% return translates to a loss of over 20%! We do have asset-smoothing techniques that dampen this volatility, but a large asset loss will still result in an unexpected increase in the contribution amount. "  MORE >>

149 pages. "In fiscal year 2025, [PBGC] made benefit payments of over $6.4 billion to 926,000 participants in trusteed single-employer plans, provided $168.5 million in traditional financial assistance to multiemployer plans covering 60,244 participants, and made SFA payments of $6.2 billion[.]"  MORE >>

68 pages. "This report projects the financial status of both programs under a range of future financial scenarios through FY 2034; additional projections are made through FY 2064 for the Multiemployer Program.... The financial outlook for PBGC's Multiemployer Program improved compared to last year's report, and the Program is likely to remain solvent for the next 40 years.... The Single- Employer Program is projected to remain in a positive net financial position over the next decade in all modeled scenarios, and significant growth in net position is projected."  MORE >>

"During December, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process inched up 20 basis points, from 100.1% to 100.3% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 100.3% of a plan's ABO."  MORE >>

"[T]he current proposal would apply to all PRT business, regardless of the specific investment and risk management strategies employed by the issuing company. However, the ARCS noted in our discussions that evaluating the appropriateness of many of the elements of the proposal requires an integrated analysis of the liabilities, the supporting in force assets held on each valuation date, and the company's investment and asset/liability management (ALM) strategies."  MORE >>

"On March 28, 2025, [two] district courts ... reached opposite conclusions on the same day when considering the same issue: Whether participants in defined benefit plans have standing to sue plan fiduciaries where those fiduciaries transferred pension plans to private annuities through a process known as 'pension risk transfer' (PRT). While many practitioners ... representing plan fiduciaries have considered standing for participants in funded defined benefit plans a clear win following the Supreme Court's decision in Thole, the Konya court casts that certainty in doubt." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061); Camire v. Alcoa U.S.A. Corp., No. 24-1062 (D.D.C. Mar. 28, 2025)]  MORE >>

"The essence of full funding is that it bolsters the ability to pay full benefits.... A pension being fully funded can ease some administrative burdens for a plan sponsor or professional and make a wider range of functions and actions available.... One of the possibilities that full funding makes possible is de-risking a plan's asset portfolio[.]"  MORE >>

"The justices as a group were skeptical of the argument of Michael Kenneally (for the departing company) that calculating the withdrawal liability 'as of' the valuation date requires the actuary to use out-of-date assumptions.... Probably the most telling feature of the argument was its brevity, as the justices had little or nothing of substance to ask of John E. Roberts (representing the fund) or Kevin Barber, appearing in support of the fund for the federal government. That often suggests that the justices are disposed to vote for that side of the case." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 22-7157 (D.C. Cir Feb. 9, 2024; cert. pet. granted Jun. 30, 2025 No. 23-1209; oral arg. Jan. 20, 2026)]  MORE >>

"During oral arguments, the justices appeared wary of the employers' request to freeze actuarial assumptions at year-end. Several questions suggested concern that such a rule could hamstring actuaries' ability to do their jobs realistically and consistently." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 22-7157 (D.C. Cir Feb. 9, 2024; cert. pet. granted Jun. 30, 2025 No. 23-1209; oral arg. Jan. 20, 2026)]  MORE >>

81 pages; Jan. 21, 2026.  Cumulative list of PBGC court cases, with summaries, organized by topic.    MORE >>

75 pages. "Justice Sotomayor (to counsel for the petitioner): 'Congress knew how to fix the use of assumptions to a particular date. It didn't do it here. Why shouldn't I assume it didn't mean to do that here?' ... Justice Alito (to counsel for the United States, supporting the respondent): 'Have very serious practical problems emerged since Metz or is it simply a matter of the fact that actuaries were used to doing things in a particular way and they don't want to change the way they've been doing it?' " [Also available: audio recording (MP3)] [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 22-7157 (D.C. Cir Feb. 9, 2024; cert. pet. granted Jun. 30, 2025 No. 23-1209; oral arg. Jan. 20, 2026)]  MORE >>

The computation of the 4044 expense loads was changed by PBGC’s final rule ... issued August 15, 2025. The 4044 expense is now computed as specified dollar amounts per participant for the first 100 participants and per additional participant. These dollar amounts will change annually. PBGC has determined the 4044 expense load factors applicable for valuation dates after 1/30/2026 but before 1/31/2027. A new webpage for ERISA 4044 expense load has been created and is now available.  MORE >>

"On January 8, 2026, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed (with prejudice) plaintiffs' claims ... holding both that plaintiffs lacked standing to sue and that they had failed to state a claim under ERISA. The case is unusual because it did not, as other PRT cases have, involve Athene, and the Verizon annuity contracts included certain protections with respect to, e.g., reinsurance and the treatment of plan assets." [Dempsey v. Verizon Comm. Inc., No. 24-10004 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 8, 2026)]   MORE >>

"Premium volumes in 2025 declined materially compared to the last two years ... Annuity purchase interest rates have demonstrated notable stability, continuing trends observed throughout 2025. At the start of 2026, the average duration 7 was approximately 4.68%, while the duration 15 rate was approximately 4.87%."  MORE >>