Sweta Vaidya | Source | Head of Solution Design North America at Insight Investment
Sweta Vaidya
I have consulted to a wide range of asset pools: corporate and public defined benefit plans, insurance funds, hospitals, and health-care systems, assisting with their strategic investment planning and liability-hedging program design.
Not only do I live at the intersection of investment policy, funding policy, benefit policy, and pension regulations, but I am of a dying breed who knows how to program in FORTRAN. I’m also passionate about partnering with actuaries, investment consultants, and clients to search for better investment outcomes.
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Insight Investment (https://www.insightinvestment.com/)
Head of Solution Design North America
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February Thaw for Pension Plans
February may be the depths of winter, but the fortunes of pension plans were warm this year, say a variety of reports. “Pension finances enjoyed another month of positive experience in February,” said one report, summing up the month’s results. Pension Plan Funding
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Car Parts Producer Faces Retirement Lawsuit | PLANSPONSOR
The retirement plan for Tenneco Inc. employees is alleged to have committed two breaches of fiduciary duty.
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US Pension Funded Status Continues to Improve in May | PLANSPONSOR
A drop in liabilities outweighed poor asset performance in May, causing funded status to modestly increase, according to firms’ analysis.
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Our model shows that funded status improved by 2.2% this month, from 102.8% in May to 105.0% in June. The increase was driven by strong equity returns, which improved assets while liabilities were fairly stable due to discount rates being flat over the month.
Earlier in June the Fed held rates steady for the first time since the hiking program began in March 2022. However we have been told to expect more rate hikes to control inflation, which may take at least another year or two to bring down to target levels. The market appears divided on whether a recession is likely in the interim, which should incentivize pension investors to reduce the uncertainties that they can in order to leave room for those they cannot predict.
Below is a summary of the average funded status for the top 100 US corporate pension plans for the month of June 2023:Funded status improved by 2.2% from 102.8% to 105.0% during June 2023
Assets increased by 1.9%
Liabilities decreased by 0.3%
Returns
Asset return was 2.5%
Liability return was 0.4%
Average discount rate increased by 1bp from 5.08% to 5.09% during June 2023
