Insights
Insights for Corporate Pension Plans Investing in Uncertain Times
Despite volatility in the financial markets during the first half of 2025, corporate pension plans have benefitted from a relatively supportive environment. As a result, the funded status of corporate plans improved, reaching an average of 105.1%.1
Yet rising uncertainty about the future threatens the tailwinds that have helped lift corporate plans to this point. Concerns about economic growth and questions about the future direction of interest rates could trigger even more volatility in equity performance and interest rates—potentially threatening funded status gains.
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- Francois Pellerin, State Street Investment Management’s new Head of Defined Benefit Investment Strategy, discusses why using comingled investment vehicles in an SMA, rather than buying individual bonds, can help LDI strategies in a volatile investment environment.
- Melissa Kahn, Retirement Public Policy Strategist, and Francois Pellerin offer suggestions for using surplus assets in plans that have already locked in a large surplus cushion, such as enhancing retiree health benefits or creating a cash balance plan.
- Finally, we’re pleased to present a Q&A with Francois, who joined the firm in March. In our conversation, Francois shares his experience in the defined benefit space, the factors that drew him to State Street, and his vision for how State Street’s work with corporate plans will continue to evolve.