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April 2, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

ASC - QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR THE PENSION INDUSTRY FOR OVER 20 YEARS
ASC provides complete automation for the pension office, including:
DC/401(k) and DB administration and valuation systems, sophisticated
Compliance Testing, DV Direct Daily Valuation, Advanced Information
Manager Database (AIM), and Single-Step Processing. All ASC Technical
Support Members were experienced Pension Administrators or Actuaries
before joining ASC -- and most have been with ASC for over 10 years.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
House Approves New, Temporary Pension Bill
Excerpt: "The House approved a new, temporary pension contribution formula that would save employers billions of dollars in payments while lawmakers restructure the system." (AP via In-Forum.com)

Negotiators Reach Accord on Pension Bill
Excerpt: "The measure offers all employers with pension plans a break by changing the way they calculate, in today's dollars, the value of the benefits that they must pay in the future. The new method will make their future pension obligations look smaller. That, in turn, means they will not have to set aside as much money today." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Putnam Probed for Preferential Treatment
Excerpt: "Massachusetts' top securities regulator on Friday said he is investigating possible improper rebates Putnam Investments may have given to favored clients by using fees collected from other investors." (Reuters via MSN.com)

Opinion: Suspicious Behavior in Houston
Excerpt: "In hindsight, a pension scheme that lets workers retire after only 25 years on the job with nearly 90 percent of pay and automatic annual increases, supposedly at only minor additional expense to taxpayers, looks like an obvious scam." (Houston Chronicle)

California's Required Payments to Public Pension Fund Soared 18-Fold in Past 3 Years
Excerpt: "State payments into a giant pension fund that gives 470,000 active and retired state workers some of the best benefits in the nation have soared in the past three years, adding to the state's budget crisis." (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Air Canada Defends Pension Deal
Excerpt: "Air Canada vowed on Thursday to defend 'vigorously' a key agreement on pension changes that is being challenged by its largest union, hoping to salvage a deal that the airline deems vital if it is to be freed from bankrup.tcy protection." (AirWise)

Judge Dismisses Age Discrimination Complaint Against Allstate
Excerpt: "A federal judge has ruled that Allstate Insurance Co. did not commit age discrimination in 2000 when it forced thousands of its agents to become private contractors with limited benefits." (Boston.com)

Allstate Agents Pin Hopes on ERISA Charges Following Dismissal of Age Discrimination Complaint
Excerpt: "Despite a federal judge throwing out their high-profile class action age discrimination claim against Allstate Insurance Co., lawyers for the 6,400 agents say they are happy with the decision overall because it permits their ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) claims for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty to go forward." (Insurance Journal)

Text of American Bankers Association Comments on Proposed DOL Regs on Automatic Rollovers (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The proposed regulation includes a safe harbor provision that would require that fees and expenses not exceed those charged for a comparable account, as well as a requirement that fees and expenses only be charged against the income earned ... Banks are concerned that the limitation proposed on charging fees against the account will lead to these accounts needing to be subsidized by the IRA custodian, and, in effect, by other individual retirement account holders." (American Bankers Association)

Overview: IRS Proposes Regulations on Elimination of Section 411(d)(6) Protected Benefits (PDF)
Excerpt: "The proposed regulations provide that Code section 411(d)(6) applies to a participant's entire accrued benefit without regard to whether any portion of that benefit is accrued before a participant's severance from employment or is included in the accrued benefit of the participant pursuant to a plan amendment adopted after the participant's severance from employment. It should be noted that this provision of the regulations is contrary to current court decisions ..." (Dechert LLP)

Opinion: the Politics of Pension Investments
Excerpt: "Last week several pension funds for public employees, heavily invested in Safeway, announced that they planned to hold back support from the chief executive officer of the grocery company at its upcoming annual shareholder meeting. Such 'activist ownership' on the part of stockholders isn't exactly new, but it has seldom been exercised by public employee pension funds ..." (San Francisco Examiner)

CRS Report: Fact Sheet on the Retirement Savings Tax Credit (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Section 618 of [EGTRRA] authorized a non-refundable tax credit of up to $1,000 for eligible individuals who contribute to a traditional IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement plan that is qualified under §401, §403 or §457 of the Internal Revenue Code. The credit was first available in 2002. It will expire after 2006 unless extended by Congress." (Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress)

Newly Posted Events

2004 CCA Annual Meeting
in Hawaii on October 17, 2004
presented by Conference of Consulting Actuaries/American Academy of Actuaries

2005 Enrolled Actuaries Meeting
in District of Columbia on April 3, 2005
presented by Conference of Consulting Actuaries/American Academy of Actuaries
Newly Posted Press Releases

Hewitt Study Shows Majority of Employers Likely to Offer New Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
(Hewitt Associates LLC)

ERIC Warns Government Roadblocks on Rate Relief Crippling Pension System
(ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee))

ACLI Encourages Congress, Administration, To Promote Long-Term Savings
(American Council of Life Insurers)

Mutual Fund Manager MFS Pays $50 Million Fine To Settle SEC Enforcement Action
(U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)

Authoria Announces Sixth Annual User Conference
(Authoria, Inc.)

Health Plans Fail To Disclose Required Coverage Information
(Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Pension Administrator/Compliance Analyst
for CNA Trust
in IL

Daily Plan Administrator
for Charlotte, NC TPA
in NC

Education Account Executive - Retirement Services
for Principal Financial Group
in CA

Senior Health and Welfare Administrator
for Black Mountain Management, Inc.
in NY

Retirement Consultant
for Towers Perrin
in CT, DC, GA, MA, NC, NJ, NY, PA

Executive Director/Fund Administrator
for large Taft Harley Fund located in New York City, New York
in NY

Paralegal-Legal Affairs
for American Express
in NY

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