AIG Crisis - How Does This Affect the General Conference Retirement Fund

AIG Crisis - How Does This Affect the General Conference Retirement Fund?

Posted September 30th, 2008 by News Editor

The recent AIG crisis has special interest to all Adventist Church employees since all the Adventist pension funds were invested in or through AIG.

In addition to it being the sole pension provider, a few Los Angeles area pastors have verified that the General Conference ruled that no employee can roll-over his/her pension funds into another qualified pension fund provider until she/he has retired.

This action on the part of the General Conference officers appears at this point to limit an employee's investment options to the AIG investment instruments or certain other funds that are available through AIG. Implications for the pastors and others who have their pension funds locked into AIG is uncertain.

With the spotlight on the financial crisis, pastors are now increasingly curious. Several questions arise as a result of the GC demand that pension funds be invested and kept with AIG. Why did the GC pension fund directors institute a policy that did not allow a person to roll over his/her pension funds into a qualified pension fund? Because the GC did not allow an employee to diversity funds in other pension plans, did the General Conference have a fiduciary responsibility to replace any lost funds in the event that AIG did not survive its financial crisis? Are the pension funds safe? These are just some of the questions being asked by concerned pastors in the Southern California Conference (SCC).

There is light at the end of the tunnel, however. In a letter to SCC pastors, Dennis Imai, Conference Human Resources/Risk Management Director, sought to assure his conference pastors that the funds invested in AIG are secure and are not threatened by the crisis affecting the parent company. Mr. Imai's assurance is not misplaced. Soon after Mr. Imai wrote the letter, it was annouced that the United States Government had bailed out AIG and assumed responsibility for it assets, including the pension fund divsions. It is still unclear why the GC will not allow roll-overs to other qualified pension funds.

Adventist Today obtained a copy of this letter. Read the letter or click below for the PDF file