PBGC Provides Financial Assistance to Struggling Metal Workers Pension

The Sheet Metal Workers Local Pension Plan from Massillon, Ohio, will receive nearly $29 million in assistance after over a year of partial payouts to beneficiaries.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation approved a Special Financial Assistance program from a Metal Sheet Workers local pension plan in Massillon, Ohio, on Wednesday.

The plan covered 1,649 participants in the sheet metal trade. About 850 of them saw their benefits cut an average of 24% in May 2020 under the terms of the Multiemployer Pension Reforms Act of 2014. SFA will pay $28.8 million to make up the shortfall.

The MPRA allowed trustees of multiemployer plans to submit an application to the Treasury Department to reduce pension payouts if such a reduction is necessary to prevent the fund from running out of money.

Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh explained: “The Special Financial Assistance approved today means that these 1,649 construction workers and retirees will receive the full retirement benefits they earned. Since 2020, they have been receiving reduced pension payments through no fault of their own.”

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The SFA program was passed as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. The Act provided funding for struggling multiemployer pension plans. As of today, PBGC has approved almost $7.8 billion to plans covering 156,000 people.

In order to receive SFA funds, the plan administrators must monitor the money they receive as well as investment earnings separately from other funds. It also requires that funds only invest the money in investment grade bonds.

The Metal Sheet Workers National Pension Fund did not return a request for comment.

Tags: PBGC, United States Department of Labor (DOL)

The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF), a global network of sovereign wealth funds from more than 40 countries, has admitted the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) as a full member.

The government of Indonesia injected initial capital of $5 billion into the investment authority in 2021. As part of the investment strategy and mandate, the fund looks for credible investors, global and local, to help quickly grow its assets under management to $20 billion.

The INA had been an associate member of the IFSWF since May 2021 and in becoming a full member accepts to uphold the Generally Accepted Principles and Practices for governance, investment and risk management of sovereign wealth funds, known as the Santiago Principles.

In addition, the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF), Malta Government Investments (MGI) and the Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC) were approved as associate members.

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The ANIF was established in 2019 with a mandate to consolidate and effectively manage the ownership of Armenian state-owned enterprises and to promote export growth and investments in Armenia by providing co-financing in large-scale projects at their initial stage of development.

Established in 2013, MGI is a limited liability company owned by the Government of Malta with a mandate to contribute to the development of government-owned companies by holding equity in undertakings and seeking profitable ventures, the company owns 15 million euros ($14.7 million) of assets.

The MIC is a private limited company owned by the Bank of Mauritius, the country’s central bank. The Bank of Mauritius established MIC in June 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to support and accelerate the economic development of Mauritius. The MIC has distributed $46.88 million Mauritian Rupees (US$1.05 million) to 43 different entities since origination.

Associate membership is granted for up to three years. IFSWF associate membership is specifically for institutions in the early stages of becoming sovereign wealth funds. By becoming associate members, the ANIF, MGI and MIC voluntarily agree to work to implement the Santiago Principles, as they put their investment and risk management processes in place.

The new membership announcement follows the Sovereign Fund of Egypt becoming a full-member, and both the Ethiopian Investment Holdings and the Fonds Souverain de Djibouti becoming associate members in May.