Rising Equity Markets Benefit Funded Status of Typical U.S. Pension Plan, According to BNY Mellon Asset Management
October 09 2007 - 8:24AM
PR Newswire (US)
Typical U.S. Pension Plan is Better Funded than at Beginning of
Year PITTSBURGH, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rising equity
markets boosted the funded status of typical U.S. pension plans by
2.4 percent in September, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management.
The asset management group, which tracks the health of the pension
plans through its BNY Mellon Pension Liability Indexes, reported
that assets of a moderate risk pension portfolio increased 2.6
percent in September, far outpacing the 0.2 percent rise in a
typical plan's liabilities. "Lower volatility and an easing Federal
Reserve brought relief to the capital markets in September," said
Peter Austin, executive director of BNY Mellon Pension Services.
"Long-maturity Treasury bond yields rose slightly, but high-grade
corporate bonds tightened 10 basis points." For the year to date,
the typical U.S. plan has improved its funded status by 4.6
percent, with moderate risk assets up 7.3 percent and typical
pension liabilities 2.7 percent higher. Lower interest rates
increase liabilities and the value of bonds. Unexpected changes in
a plan's demographics, among other factors, also affect the size of
the benefit liability. The BNY Mellon Pension Liability Indexes,
which were launched in March 2006, are designed to track the market
values and returns of pension liabilities for young, average and
mature pension plans. (See more about the indexes at:
http://www.melloninstitutional.com/public/knowledge/publications/content/publi
cations/liability_index.html.) (Due to the length of this URL, it
may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your
Internet browser's URL address field.) BNY Mellon Asset Management
is a leading global provider of investment management products and
services that offers a broad range of equity, fixed- income, hedge
and liquidity management products through individual asset
management companies and multiple distribution channels. The Bank
of New York Mellon Corporation is a global financial services
company focused on helping clients manage and service their
financial assets, operating in 37 countries and serving more than
100 markets. The company is a leading provider of financial
services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth
individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth
management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and
treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. It has
more than $20 trillion in assets under custody and administration,
more than $1 trillion in assets under management and services $11
trillion in outstanding debt. Additional information is available
at http://www.bnymellon.com/.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071001/NYM012LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: The Bank of New York Mellon
Corporation CONTACT: Mike Dunn of The Bank of New York Mellon
Corporation, +1-212-922-7859, or Web site:
http://www.bnymellon.com/
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