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

Congrats to USA medal winners at the recently concluded Paris summer games. I’m still in awe of so many of the performances. Speaking of performances and medals, the PBGC deserves a medal at this time for their performance in implementing the ARPA legislation. Sure, there have been some fits and starts along the way, but the for the most part, their performance has been stellar. At the conclusion of this legislative effort, there may be more than 200 multiemployer plans receiving SFA. The significance to these funds and more importantly, the plan participants should not be minimized. Let’s not forget Carol, and the tens of thousands like her.

Last week saw a little reported action, with only one fund filing an application and another withdrawing one. It was the Employers’ – Warehousemen’s Pension Plan, which filed a revised application seeking $38.5 million for 1,821 plan participants. The Pressroom Unions’ Pension Plan has withdrawn its initial application which sought $59.3 million in SFA for the 1,344 members of that pension plan.

As the chart above highlights, there are still potentially 69 applications seeking SFA to be filed. In addition, there are 23 applications presently under review (all non-priority group members) and another 7 that submitted applications that have not yet been revised and resubmitted. As mentioned previously, there is still much work to be done by the PBGC.

US Treasury interest rates which fell rapidly last Monday in the wake of the Japanese carry trade unwinding, have bounced back rather impressively since then providing plan sponsors with the ability to secure the promised benefits at lower cost with the help of the SFA proceeds.