Acting PBGC Head Recommends Dumping Money Mgmt.
Contracts
May 20, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Vince Snowbarger,
acting director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation,
has recommended three controversial contracts with Wall
Street firms be dropped, according to a letter released
Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis revealed the
Snowbarger recommendation to the agency's board in a letter
sent to and released by U.S. Senator Herb Kohl
(D-Wisconsin), chairman of the
Senate Special Committee on Aging, which conducted a
hearing into the private-sector pension insurer on
Wednesday (see
PBGC Future Depends on What Happens to DB Plans
).
Questions have been raised about contacts between
former Director Charles Millard's office and the three
firms chosen to help implement a controversial asset
allocation change (see
Former PBGC Head Draws Scrutiny
). Millard appeared before Kohl's committee Wednesday but
asserted his Constitutional rights against incrimination
rather than respond to questions (see
Millard Invokes Fifth Amendment Rights at Senate
Hearing
).
Regarding Snowbarger's comments to terminate
agreements with
Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and JPMorganto invest up to $2.5 billion in PBGC assets, Solis
asserted: "As part of our governance and oversight
responsibilities, we take this matter very
seriously...
The Solis letter to Kohl is available
here
.
Fred Schneyer
editors@plansponsor.com