December 2023
07Dec

PPF Purple Book shows improved U.K. funding levels

U.K. defined benefit plans covered by the Pension Protection Fund saw "significant improvement" in funding levels that could bring more buyouts, according to the lifeboat fund's 2023 report published Dec. 6. The PPF's annual Pensions Universe Risk Profile, known as the Purple Book, showed a surplus of £358.9 billion ($443.3 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, with 80% of pension funds in surplus. That was up from surpluses of £193 billion in 2022 and £47 billion in 2021, according...

December 7, 2023
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06Dec

U.S. corporate funding ratios rise in November – 3 reports

U.S. corporate pension funds saw funding ratios rise slightly in November, thanks to very strong market returns offsetting a significant rise in liability values, three new reports say. Wilshire Advisors estimated the aggregate funding ratio of U.S. corporate plans reached 105.4% as of Nov. 30, up from 105.1% a month earlier. The change was driven by a 7.8 percentage-point increase in asset values offsetting a 7.4 percentage-point increase in liability values. The two increases rounded to a funding hike of 0.3...

December 6, 2023
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01Dec

2023 Prudent Pension Funding Report: A story of positive trends and persistent outliers

By Michael Hall  In the wake of last year’s market turbulence, are most corporate pension plans still on a pathway to achieving full funding? Yes, according to our latest research. Our 2023 Prudent Pension Funding Report reveals most (97%) corporate pension plans can achieve full funding without a significant draw on corporate cash, based on the respective firms’ latest disclosures as well as market and interest rate movement so far in 2023. This finding increased from 86% in last year’s report. Despite...

December 1, 2023
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01Dec

Augmenting the Funded Ratio: New Metrics for Liability Based Plans

By Sanjiv Ranjan Das, Daniel N Ostrov, Anand Radhakrishnan, Deep Srivastav & Wylie Tollette The primary metric used to determine the health of a liability based plan (LBP) is the funded ratio, which is the ratio of the LBP’s current assets to its present-valued liabilities. The funded ratio, however, cannot accommodate a considerable number of important financial factors, so we suggest three additional metrics of financial health, each connected to the probability of fulfilling the plan’s liabilities. The first two...

December 1, 2023
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November 2023
29Nov

UK. Hopes and fears for pensions in 2024

Aon has set out its “hopes and fears” for pensions in 2024. After a year in which UK pension schemes digested the events of 2022 and adjusted themselves to new circumstances, Matthew Arends, partner and head of UK retirement policy at Aon, looks at what the pension industry may have on its mind as it goes into 2024. “All those involved in running pension schemes may have mixed feelings as they face the New Year" There have been improvements in...

November 29, 2023
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22Nov

UK. Opportunity for buyers as DB pension surplus growth continues

The aggregate funding position of FTSE 350 companies’ defined benefit (DB) has undergone a "complete reversal" over the past 18 months, Mercer's latest Pensions Risk Survey data has found. The tracker showed that the aggregate funding of FTSE 350 companies' DB schemes stood at £68bn at October 2023, recovering from roughly the same level of deficit (£69bn) at the end of Q1 2022. Mercer also suggested that changes in DB schemes’ funding position could be set to play a more positive role...

November 22, 2023
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21Nov

US. State pension plans’ funded status improves

The median state pension plan funded status improved last year to 82.6% from 68.5%, according to data provided by Fitch Ratings. The rating agency's adjusted funded measure, which caps the assumed investment return at 6%, was 73.5% vs. 60.2% in 2021. States dropped their assumed rate of return in 2022, continuing a trend going back at least several years. Last year, the average fell to 6.88% compared with 7.6% in 2015. The number of states making at least 100% contributions compared...

November 21, 2023
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21Nov

IBM reopening pension plan turns industry heads

When it comes to dealing with an overfunded frozen pension plan, International Business Machines is putting into action what some of its peers are thinking about. The company recently confirmed that it will cancel its defined contribution plan company match and replace it with a component within its IBM Personal Pension Plan, a defined benefit plan, on Jan. 1. The 401(k) match is 5% of an employee’s salary. The IBM 401(k) Plus Plan had $53.2 billion in assets as of Dec....

November 21, 2023
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16Nov

U.S. public pension funding dips again in October – Milliman

The overall estimated funding ratio of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans declined for the third month in a row in October, once again due to negative market performance, according to the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding index. The estimated ratio fell to 71.4% as of Oct. 31 from 73.2% a month earlier, driven by an estimated aggregate investment return of -1.9% during the period, with an estimated range of -2.8% to -1.1%. With the third straight month of negative...

November 16, 2023
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14Nov

US Corporate Pension Funding Status Keeps Climbing

The funding status of U.S. corporate pension plans increased in October, largely due to a reduction in liabilities stemming from an increase in discount rates, which were offset by negative investment returns. According to some trackers, pension funding status is at its highest point in decades. Funding Status Increases Fueled by High Interest Rates According to WTW’s pension finance tracker, U.S. corporate pension funding is at its highest level since mid-2001, with the funding ratio of WTW’s benchmark plan increasing 1.1...

November 14, 2023
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