http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/2014/01/02/396b95e8-73cf-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html
By ,
Published: January?2?
Strong stock market gains and
slowly rising interest rates have left corporate pension plans in their
healthiest state since the recession hit, a development that analysts
say creates an opportunity for many firms to off-load them.
The funding level for the nation's largest corporate pension
plans increased sharply in 2013, with the ratio of assets to liabilities
rising from 77 percent at the end of 2012 to 93 percent at the end of
2013, according to Towers Watson, a benefits consultancy. That has left
corporate pensions in their best shape since 2007, when the average
funding level for Fortune 1000 firms offering tradition pensions stood
at 106 percent.
The improved finances offer relief to corporations that have been in recent years to keep their pension funding levels in compliance with federal regulations.
But rather than just assuring the future of the shrunken number of
traditional pension plans that make retirees guaranteed payments for
life, the improved funding levels also make it more feasible for more
firms to shed pension obligations altogether. Firms can do that either
by offering lump sums to workers or to transfer the future liabilities —
and the money set aside to meet them — to insurance companies that
convert them into annuities.
"From a financial management
perspective, as the funded ratios get closer to 100 percent, it becomes
feasible to do things you couldn't three or four years ago," said Alan
Glickstein, a senior retirement consultant at Towers Watson.
The
percentage of private-sector employees who are covered by traditional
pensions has decreased by about half since the early 1990s, to just 18
percent last year, according to the Labor Department.
The
decline in traditional pension coverage, coupled with inability of many
Americans to save for retirement outside of pension plans and the ever
increasing cost of medical care, has contributed to growing concern that
a growing number of Americans are at risk of when they enter retirement.
In recent years, some firms — worried about the long-term financial
responsibility of paying for pensions — have moved to get the
liabilities off their books. In recent years, Verizon Communications
transferred $7.5 billion in pension obligations to Prudential Financial.
The move came after General Motors paid Prudential to assume $25
billion of its pension risks.
With private firms facing tighter
government rules to keep pension funding levels high as well as sharply
higher premiums for government pension insurance, that trend is showing
no signs of reversing. Add to that the growing volatility of financial
markets over the past decade and a half, there is ample incentive for
firms to drop pensions, many analysts say.
"The improved funding
environment will provide pension plan sponsors with some intriguing
opportunities for 2014," said David Suchsland, a senior retirement
consultant at Towers Watson. "We expect the actions we've seen among
companies to de-risk their pension plans over the past several years
will accelerate as funding levels continue to improve."
Now,
analysts say, with pension fund balance sheets healing, companies could
be tempted to shed pension liabilities because as funding levels
improve, the cost to firms of transferring pension liabilities to
insurance companies or buying out retirees with lump sums goes down.
This year "is looking to be a big year for risk transfer strategies
such as annuity buyouts and voluntary cashouts to former employees, as
improving conditions make these options much more feasible than before,"
said Richard McEvoy, head of the Financial Strategy Group for Mercer
Investment Consulting.
