Description: Column describing shifting paradigm for retirement plan design in North America that highlights recent SOA research project on Target Benefit Plans.

Description: Recently, we have seen renewed interest in the international (or “offshore”) pension plan. An international plan typically provides benefits for internationally mobile workers of a multinational employer, but can also be used for certain other workers. The plan is usually located in a respected international finance centre.

Description: The Defined Benefit 'DB' underpin Defined Contribution hybrid pension plan offers an attractive combination of benefit security and upside potential for pension plan members, and offers cost containment for employers, whilst still ensuring the provision of adequate equitable benefits. The DB underpin guarantee is valued and hedged as a financial option within the traditional funding paradigms of actuarial science. However, the average monthly hedging costs are time dependent and can be unstable when employees are close to retirement. This is the abstract of a paper that proposes some cost control approaches to reduce the volatility of the hedging cost.