The funded status of the nation’s largest corporate defined benefit plans ended 2015 at 82%, the same as it ended 2014, due in large part to a rise in interest rates that were offset by a weak global stock market, according to research by consulting firm Towers Watson, which merged today with Willis Group Holdings PLC to form Willis Towers Watson.
The data looked at pension plan data from 413 Fortune 1000 companies that sponsor pension plans and found that the pension deficit narrowed slightly by $28 billion to $291 billion at the end of 2015, compared to a $319 billion deficit at the end of 2014.
