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

Welcome to the first week of Fall. It has always been my favorite season, but given how my football team has played during the last decade, that was putting a damper on this beautiful time of year in New Jersey. I’m hoping that the Giants can turn around the franchise’s recent poor performance and make Autumn wonderful again.

Regarding ARPA, there wasn’t much happening last week above the surface. There were two additional applications received – both falling under the Mass Withdrawal category and as plans located in the Second Circuit. There are currently 39 pension plans with applications before the PBGC seeking Special Financial Assistance. If successful, these 30 plans will be awarded >$1.64 billion in SFA for 71,151 plan participants.

There weren’t any plans receiving approval for SFA, but there also weren’t any plans that had applications rejected or withdrawn. It isn’t surprising that there weren’t any fund’s added to the waitlist, as we are late in the implementation of this important pension legislation.

Currently, there are 20 applications in review by the PBGC that fall under the Mass Withdrawal status, including 19 from the Second Circuit. It will be interesting to see if any non-Second Circuit plans beside California Winery Workers’ Pension Plan are given an opportunity to submit an application.