Products January 6, 2005

Mellon Offers Lump-Sum Calculator to Canadian Plan Sponsors

January 6, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Mellon Financial Corporation has announced the development a new calculator that helps Canadian plan sponsors calculate the lump sum value of their funds.

Reported by

Kip McDaniel

The CV Calculator is available free on the Internet until March 1, 2005 and by subscription after to Canadian businesses. It is designed to commute value factors under defined benefit pension plans based on the revised Standard of Practice for Determining Pension Commuted Values, which is developed by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

These are the factors used in calculating the equivalent lump-sum value of a plan in lieu of deferred or immediate life annuity for a terminating participant. The new standards will be implemented on February 1, and will be more complex because both interest rates used for determining of annuity factors will be variable, according to a Mellon press release. Under the current standard, use of a variable and a fixed interest rate allows pension administrators to refer to a small number of tables of annuity factors in the calculation of commuted values.

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The CV Calculator can calculate the values on either 1993 or 2005 standards, and allows the user to control variables for individual circumstances, according to the announcement.

The CV Calculator is available at no charge on a trial basis through Mellon Human Resources & Investor Services Canada until February 28, 2005 at www.mellon.com/hris/canada/cvcalculator/ .