China),
China),
United States).
Definition: There are remarkable differences in pension systems around the world today. The roles of families, employers, trade unions, financial intermediaries, community organizations, constituencies, and government agencies vary widely. Despite these differences, in almost every country the government is ultimately the ultimate pension provider, either explicitly or implicitly. If a government pension system is well designed and well managed, it can improve the wellbeing of those it supports and even contribute to the resilience of the financial system as a whole. However, if poorly designed or poorly managed, it can undermine economic security at both the micro and macro levels. An annuity contract is an insurance contract that specifies the plan s contributions to an insurance company for which the plan s benefits will be paid when members reach the specified retirement age or when members leave the plan earlier.
Aluminum manufacturer Arconic Corporation on Thursday announced that it had transferred roughly $1 billion in pension plan obligations to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, joining a number of other U.S. companies that have recently offloaded pension liabilities to insurers.
The announcement comes just a few months after one of the busiest quarters for pension risk transfer deals in the last decade, and points to continued appetite among corporate pensions for annuity buyouts.
This latest group annuity contract marks Arconic’s third pension risk transfer transaction in the past year, according to a Pensions & Investments report. Arconic said Thursday that the deal entails the transfer of pension liabilities for around 8,400 retirees and benefices to MassMutual.
How to Tell If You’re Paying Reasonable Fees for Actuarial Services
Leslie Olds, with Strategic Benefits Advisors, discusses how DB plan sponsors can determine whether actuarial fees are in line with services provided.
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As a defined benefit (DB) plan sponsor, it can be difficult to determine whether the fees you are paying for actuarial services are reasonable.
These services involve complicated calculations and are subject to the scrutiny and requirements of the IRS, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), plan auditors, company auditors and other parties. It’s also hard to anticipate how much effort will be required by the actuary to produce various deliverables particularly when they involve nonroutine special projects.
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The executive order sought to stop furtive rulemaking through guidance documents.
Agencies are making progress on undoing an executive order from President Trump that sought to prevent “unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats” from creating “backdoor regulations.”
In October 2019, Trump issued an executive order that required most agencies to publish guidance documents online and established a process for public comment and interagency review of those documents, except in certain circumstances. Independent agencies were exempt from the order. The law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLC noted at the time that for years courts have been concerned with agencies’ use of guidance documents to justify their enforcement proceedings. However, the Trump administration took a uniquely hostile approach to the civil service.
Large Latin American airlines have filed for bankruptcy after the pandemic while U.S. carriers have avoided this. There are historical and structural reasons.