By: Russ Kamp, CEO, Ryan ALM, Inc.

For those that observe, we hope that you had a Blessed Easter or a Happy Passover.

Regarding ARPA and the PBGC’s activity last week, we’ll refer to it as muted. There were no new applications submitted, as the eFiling portal remains temporarily closed. In fact, there haven’t been any applications submitted since April 3rd. In addition, there weren’t any applications denied (fortunately) or approved or withdrawn. Also, no multiemployer plans were seeking to be added to the waitlist. I guess that took the religious week seriously and rested, but not just on the 7th day!

There was one piece of news. Southwest Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Plan repaid a portion of the Special Financial Assistance that they received. They repaid $5.5 million on a grant of $177 million or 3.1%. This represents the second largest refund to date, with only Retirement Plan of Local 1482 – Paint and Allied Products Manufacturers Retirement Fund returning a greater sum at 3.9% of the SFA. Fifty-three plans have now returned $209.0 million from grants totaling $47.8 billion or 0.44%. It is estimated that another 6-7 plans might have to rebate a portion of their SFA.

U.S. interest rates continue to rise. For those plans hoping to receive SFA in the near future, defeasing those promised benefits is becoming less expensive providing for greater cost savings and longer coverage periods. We are happy to provide SFA recipients with a free analysis on how a cash flow matching (CFM) strategy can benefit your plan.