Description: Presented at October 1996 Annual Meeting. Now that plan sponsors are required to purchase only the “safest available” annuities, companies encounter a number of difficulties when they attempt to terminate a defined-benefit plan. This session addresses the lack of available insurers and the resulting effect on competition, a situation in which the plan sponsor may have difficulty finding any insurer to take plan benefits, the effect on prevalence of lump-sum distributions, and the role of the PBGC as insurer of last resort.

Description: Discussion of the ways the volatility of the full funding limitation can be used as a consulting opportunity. Discussion of smoothing cash flow in the current regulatory environment and cash-flow forecasting in a volatile market.

Description: 2004 SOA Spring Meeting, Anaheim, CA. This session presented expert views on emerging issues that have technical and practical ramifications for plan sponsors, participants and/or advisers. It offered attendees an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the current retirement system's regulatory environment and how it has changed.

Description: This session discussion is about practices and procedures in the termination of pension plans, PBGC requirements and effect of new regulatory requirements on plan terminations. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 14, No. 4A.