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

I hope that this ARPA update finds you doing well.

As we’ve been reporting, the ARPA program is winding down. As a result, the PBGC’s weekly updates are becoming briefer. In the latest week, Building Trades Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania, submitted a revised SFA application seeking $39.7 million for 3,907 plan members. The PBGC has until September 29th, to act on the application. With this filing, there are currently eight applications before the PBGC.

Following this submission there remains 29 withdrawn applications that will likely be presented to the PBGC again. Six of those applications are for priority Group members. However, the PBGC’s eFiling portal remains temporarily closed.

Bricklayers Local No. 55 Pension Plan’s application “matures” on June 25th. The PBGC must act on this filing by that date or the fund automatically gets approval for the SFA request.

Nothing new to report on the 80 applications currently on the waitlist that were impacted by the plan being terminated by mass withdrawal before 2020 Plan Year. We continue to monitor this situation and will report as updates become available. Lastly, higher U.S. interest rates continue to provide recent recipients of SFA the opportunity to lock in significant cost reduction on their plan’s future benefit obligations.