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

We are pleased to provide the weekly update on the ARPA legislation and the PBGC’s implementation of this critically important pension rescue.

The prior week’s activity was relatively muted. There were no applications submitted to the PBGC, as the eFiling portal remains temporarily closed. In addition, there were no applications approved or withdrawn. There were no fund’s repaying a portion of the SFA because of errors related to census data, as most of the roughly 60 plans have already repaid about 0.4% of the SFA received. However, we did see a second fund’s application denied. United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Pension Plan application seeking Special Financial Assistance (SFA) as a result of not being eligible.

Multiemployer plans continue to be added to the waitlist hoping that their application will permit them to receive the SFA. There have been 7 funds, including Iron Workers Local 473 Pension Plan (added 5/16), that have been added to the list in 2025. There were only four funds added in 2024 after the initial 109 funds.

U.S interest rates continue to rise. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond hit 5% this morning. Corporate spreads for the equivalent 30-year BBB are providing between 6% and 6.5% yields depending on the sector. With yields this robust, plans can significantly reduce the cost of securing the promised benefits.