By: Russ Kamp, Managing Director, Ryan ALM, Inc.

After a very hectic June, in which the PBGC approved nine applications for SFA, July has seen a replenishing of submitted applications seeking SFA grant money with 9 being filed in the first three weeks of the month. In the last week alone, we had Local 734 Pension Plan, Teamsters Local 210 Affiliated Pension Plan, Pension Plan of the Marine Carpenters Pension Fund, and the Pension Plan of the Automotive Machinists Pension Trust submit applications seeking nearly $411.5 million for the combined 20,111 plan participants.

There is really nothing else of note to those of us on the outside of this process. According to the PBGC’s website, there were no applications for SFA approved or denied in the previous week. No funds were asked to return excess payments, no multiemployer plans were added to the waitlist, and no applications were withdrawn.

There are still 16 funds with Priority Group standing (1-6) that are not currently under review, including 1 Priority Group 1 member that hasn’t filed an initial application, while all the others have withdrawn at least initial applications. In addition, there are still 71 waiting list applicants that have not yet submitted an initial application. Despite the successful implementation of ARPA to date, the PBGC still has a ton of work to do.