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

Aloha from beautiful Waikiki, HI, where the IFEBP annual conference is taking place. I’m so fortunate to be able to speak twice at this amazing event. Fortunately, part of my presentation/session speaks to ARPA and he use of Cash Flow Matching to secure the promised benefits. More on that in a future blog post.

For now, let’s discuss the PBGC’s activity from last week. It was a fairly quiet week, which is a bit surprising given the number of funds that still sit on the PBGC’s waitlist to submit an application seeking SFA. That said, two non-priority group members, including Warehouse Employees Union Local 169 and Employers Joint Pension Plan and the Colorado Cement Masons Pension Trust Fund were permitted to file applications. In the case of the Cement Masons, they withdrew the initial application on 11/4 only to resubmit a revised application on the 7th. Warehouse employees submitted a revised application, too. They are seeking nearly $80 million in SFA for the 3,772 members.

In other ARPA news, there were no applications approved (the last one was 10/16), no pension funds asked to repay a portion of the SFA, and no plans denied for failure to meet the requirements. As mentioned previously, there were two funds that withdrew applications, but the Cement Masons patched up whatever issues were identified.

Lastly, there were no new funds seeking to be added to the waitlist and none of those currently on the waitlist requested to have the valuation date determined. There still remain too many plans seeking SFA with initial applications.

Given the tremendous uncertainty in markets and the economic environment, plan sponsors of DB pensions receiving SFA would be wise to secure as much of their benefits (and expenses) as possible.