Prior to joining Pioneer, Anzlovar was a fixed-income institutional
portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments, and a member of the firm’s
liability-driven investing (LDI) strategy team. In this role, he was
responsible for developing custom LDI solutions for institutional clients. He
was also responsible for client servicing and representing the firm’s fixed-income
strategies to the marketplace.
Anzlovar was also an investment director at Fidelity tasked with
product management for the firm’s institutional high
yield, bank loan and emerging market debt strategies. He earned a bachelor’s of
science degree from Fairfield University and an M.B.A. from Babson
College.
Anzlovar is also a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and a
member of the Boston Security Analysts Society.
As
of September 30, Pioneer Investments managed approximately $148 billion in
fixed-income asset globally, including approximately $40 billion in the U.S.,
according to the firm.
PBGC Deficit Balloons Due to Multiemployer Program
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) annual report shows improvement in its single-employer program, but deterioration in its multiemployer program.
The
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation released its 2014 Annual Report, which
shows the agency’s deficit increased to about $62 billion in fiscal year 2014,
largely due to the declining condition of a few multiemployer plans. This is a
72% increase over the $36 billion deficit reported last year.
The
deficit in the single-employer program narrowed to about $19.3 billion, down
from $27.4 billion in 2013. The program insures the pensions of nearly 31
million workers and retirees in about 22,300 ongoing plans sponsored by
private-sector employers. The single-employer program’s potential exposure to
future pension losses from financially weak companies was estimated at about
$167 billion compared to about $292 billion last fiscal year.
The
PBGC said the condition of the single-employer program continues to improve because
of a stronger economy, better market returns, and an $869 million increase in
net premium income,
largely because of legislative changes. Some premiums increased this year for single-employer plans, but no premium increases were made for multiemployer plans. The agency noted in
its call that Congress sets premiums, and the agency has requested that
Congress increase premiums for multiemployer plans and also that Congress allow
the agency to set premium amounts.
PBGC’s multiemployer
insurance program’s deficit rose to $42.4 billion, compared with $8.3 billion
last year. The program’s increased deficit is largely due to the fact that
several additional large multiemployer plans are expected to become insolvent
within the next decade. In response to questions about what plans are pulling
down the agency’s numbers, an official said the agency does not reveal plan
names, only aggregate amounts. Another official noted that multiemployer plans
are recovering in general, but there is a segment of plans that appears to be
unable to solve its financial problems on its own.
The
multiemployer program insures the benefits of more than 10 million workers and
retirees in about 1,400 plans. When multiemployer plans fail, PBGC provides
financial assistance so the plans can pay benefits at no more than PBGC’s
statutory multiemployer benefit guarantee level. (Unlike the agency’s program
for single-employer pensions, PBGC does not assume responsibility for the
benefit administration of insolvent multiemployer plans.) While the
multiemployer program’s assets would meet the needs of the current inventory of
insolvent plans, assets are insufficient to cover benefits for plans expected
to run out of money in the near future.
“We
believe we have enough money to continue to provide financial assistance for
several years, but over time, the risk of the [multiemployer] program running
out of money increases. There is some risk within five years, and a more than
50% risk we will have run out of money in eight years,” one official said.
PBGC
estimated in its FY 2013 Projections Report that, absent legislative changes,
the multiemployer program faces a greater than 50% chance of insolvency by 2022;
that likelihood reaches 90% by 2025. The failures of these plans are expected
to drain PBGC's multiemployer program of its assets, leaving PBGC unable to pay
guaranteed benefits. When the program becomes insolvent, the only funds
available to support benefits will be the premiums that continue to be paid by
remaining plans. This would result in benefits being cut much more deeply, to a
small fraction of PBGC’s guarantee level.
“It
is a work in progress, and PBGC has been ready and is ready to work with
Congress to develop a comprehensive solution to help multiemployer plans and the
PBGC multiemployer insurance program remain solvent,” an official said during
the call.
In
FY 2014, PBGC assumed responsibility for about 53,000 people in 97 trusteed
single-employer plans, and it paid $97 million in financial assistance to 53
multiemployer plans covering 52,000 retirees.