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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
The Bush administration is recommending a two-year extension of a 2002 law that changed the interest rate assumptions employers use in valuing pension liabilities. The law allows employers to use slightly higher assumptions than were permitted under previous law....The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s deficit, as of March 30, stood at $5.4 billion, up from $3.6 billion as of Sept. 30, 2002, as the agency continues to be hammered by losses from failed underfunded pension plans it has taken over, PBGC Executive Director Steve Kandarian told a congressional subcommittee hearing Wednesday. As recently as the close of fiscal 2001, the PBGC had a $7.7 billion surplus....Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the insurance financial strength rating of Helsinki, Finland-based Pohjola Non-Life Insurance Co. Ltd. to A3 from A2. Moody's cited the insurer's string of underwriting losses and strain on capital. In another rating action, Moody's downgraded Stockholm, Sweden-based If Property & Casualty Insurance Ltd. to A3 from A2. Moody's said that factors in the downgrade included If P&C's four years of losses and ongoing capital infusions by its corporate parent.