Defined Benefits

Californias public retirement fund holds so much power over local officials that pension bond investors cant expect equal treatment when a city goes bankrupt, a judge said in a ruling that she acknowledged seems unfair.

The Illinois Supreme Court rejected the states solution for its worst-in-the-U.S. $111 billion pension- funding shortfall, throwing into doubt how its financial crisis will be resolved.

A bill that convincingly passed through Colorados House of Representatives authorizing up to $12 billion in Pension Obligation Bonds failed to make it out of that states Senate Finance Committee this week.

The 2015 ERISA Advisory Council will examine disclosure guidelines sponsors use when offering lump-sum pension buyouts and risk transfers in the form of group annuity purchases.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has settled a claim with retired US Airways pilots for $5.25 million.

Rising interest rates lowered corporate pension liability estimates in April, improving the average funding rate to 90.1 percent, a 2.9 percent increase.

Less than one-half of the very substantial private equity costs to public pension funds are being disclosed.

A federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan ruled in favor of a retiree from Detroit Edison Co. whose pension benefit was miscalculated before his decision to retire.