In what's believed to be a first by a public pension plan, the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday.
The public defined-benefit plan is in a big hole. At the moment, it's only 38.8% funded, thanks to low investment returns and a benefit structure that's been increased without raises in funding, according to the bankruptcy filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth consisting of three major islands in the Western Pacific.
Currently, the fund holds $268.4 million in assets, yet faces a staggering $911 million in liabilities. Last year alone, it paid $76 million in retirement benefits, health and life insurance claims and lump-sum death payments.
Marcia Wagner, managing director at The Wagner Law Group, believes that this is the first time a public pension plan has filed for bankruptcy. Notably, this is a restructuring of the fund and not a liquidation, which would be under the jurisdiction of Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code...............
No comments:
Post a Comment