02-32494. Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Survey of Nonparticipating Single Premium Group Annuity Rates

AGENCY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION:

Notice of request for extension of OMB approval.

SUMMARY:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of a collection of information (OMB control number 1212-0030; expires January 31, 2003). This voluntary collection of information is a quarterly survey of insurance company rates for pricing annuity contracts. The survey is conducted by the American Council of Life Insurers for the PBGC. This notice informs the public of the PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

DATES:

Comments should be submitted by January 27, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Comments may be mailed to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Washington, DC 20503. Copies of the request for extension (including the collection of information) may be obtained without charge by writing to the PBGC's Communications and Public Affairs Department, Suite 240, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, or by visiting that office or calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. (TTY and TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and request connection to 202-326-4040.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Deborah C. Murphy, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, 202-326-4024. (TTY and TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and request connection to 202-326-4024).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations prescribe actuarial valuation methods and assumptions (including interest rate assumptions) to be used in determining the actuarial present value of benefits under single-employer plans that terminate (29 CFR part 4044) and under multiemployer plans that undergo a mass withdrawal of contributing employers (29 CFR part 4281). Each month the PBGC publishes the interest rates to be used under those regulations for plans terminating or undergoing mass withdrawal during the next month.

The interest rates are intended to reflect current conditions in the investment and annuity markets. To determine these interest rates, the PBGC gathers pricing data from insurance companies that are providing annuity contracts to terminating pension plans through a quarterly “Survey of Nonparticipating Single Premium Group Annuity Rates.” The survey is distributed by the American Council of Life Insurers and provides the PBGC with “blind” data (i.e., is conducted in such a way that the PBGC is unable to match responses with the companies that submitted them). The information from the survey is also used by the PBGC in determining the interest rates it uses to value benefits payable to participants and beneficiaries in PBGC-trusteed plans for purposes of the PBGC's financial statements.

The survey is directed at insurance companies that have volunteered to participate, most or all of which are members of the American Council of Life Insurers. The survey is conducted quarterly and will be sent to approximately 22 insurance companies. Based on experience under the current approval, the PBGC estimates that 11 insurance companies will complete and return the survey. The PBGC further estimates that the average annual burden of this collection of information is 41 hours and $88.

The collection of information has been approved by OMB under control number 1212-0030 through January 31, 2003. The PBGC is requesting that OMB extend its approval for another three years. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Issued in Washington, DC, this 19th day of December, 2002.

Stuart A. Sirkin,

Director, Corporate Policy and Research Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.