Happy Friday, PLANSPONSOR readers! This week we focus on defined benefit (DB) plans. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made a couple of announcements regarding DB plans, and a proposed bill in West Virginia would make it a criminal offense not to make contributions to public pension plans. Speaking of DB plan contributions, a study finds the largest corporate DB plans are leading the way in accelerating pension funding. With the stock market dives in February, DB plans’ funded status was tempered by higher liability discount rates. And, more than half of institutional investors have increased their allocations to focused investment strategies. Enjoy this edition of PLANSPONSOR Weekend!
A plan sponsor using pre-approved plan documents to restate a plan for the plan qualification requirements included on the 2012 Cumulative List will be required to adopt the plan document by April 30, 2020.Read more >
Under the proposed legislation, any employer or public official who willfully fails to make contributions to public pension plans can face a sentence as low as a $100 fine or as high as 10 years in prison.Read more >
Following a pattern as trendsetters, the 20 members of the $20 billion club collectively dismissed funding relief and paid more than triple their mandated contributions in 2017, according to Russell Investments.Read more >
Institutions that track defined benefit (DB) plans’ funded ratios measured increases or decreases in funded status as high as 1%, but noted it could have been worse if not offset by higher liability discount rates.Read more >
In the past 12 to 18 months, 56% of institutional investors have increased their exposure to focused strategies, defined as 50 or fewer holdings, a survey finds.Read more >
