Pension funds

Public pension funds are increasingly attracted to infrastructure investment.

The survey of securities firms showed pressures caused by unfunded pension obligations is expected to be the biggest issue for the muni market next year.

Peter Hayes, head of municipals at BlackRock, says liquidity is sound and muni funds can cope with outflows. He says that among the larger factors in their daily decision-making is the status of an issuers’ pension and OPEB liabilities along with bond structure. John Hallacy is host.

The New York City Comptroller is encouraging greater diversity among investment managers hired by the city’s pension funds.

One proposal is to use the Chicago water system to fund the Windy City’s public employee pension plans.

Wilshire Consulting said the aggregate funded ratio for U.S. state pension plans remained unchanged between and first and second quarters of 2018 at 70.8%, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous 12 months.

The city will sell them this year if Rahm Emanuel's administration decides to move forward.

The settlement means the court won't decide the rights of bondholders versus pension funds.

The Public Employee Pension Transparency Act (HR 6290) would prohibit states and localities from issuing tax-exempt bonds unless they file annual reports on their public pension systems to the U.S. Treasury Department.

The state program invests retirement savings for workers whose employers don't offer pension plans.