NBC’s Gretchen Morgenson on Pension De-Risking

Senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit, Gretchen Morgenson delved into the issue of pension de-risking in an exposé published on June 14, 2020. Morgenson interviewed Karen Friedman of the Pension Rights Center, Thomas Gober, a certified fraud examiner who has worked as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice, and Joseph Belth, professor emeritus of insurance at Indiana University, and author of The Insurance Forum.  Focusing on Athene Annuity & Life, the article points out that “Athene has acquired $12 billion in corporate pension obligations recently, including those of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dana Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp.” The entity taking on most of the pension obligations is Athene Annuity & Life Co.” Over 178,000 retirees rely upon Athene for their pension benefits. In April 2020, Athene was fined by the State of New York for failing to register before engaging in its pension de-risking business in New York.