The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued its first payment on February 28, 1975, in the amount of $140.75, to a participant in the International City Bank of New Orleans Employees Retirement Plan.
At the time, the Corporation had been in operation for less than a year. After the enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) on September 2, 1974, PBGC began its work as a task force appointed by the Department of Labor. The group borrowed $100,000 from the Treasury, as provided under ERISA, and established temporary offices in Silver Spring, MD. Early priorities included developing essential regulations and basic forms, such as those needed to collect premium payments.
By November 1974, Labor Secretary Peter J. Brennan, chairman of PBGC’s Board of Directors, named Steven Schanes — a Commerce Department official and pension professional — the first Executive Director.
The participant who received PBGC’s first payment was ecstatic and quickly wrote back to Acting Executive Director Schanes: “Your letter of February 28 enclosing a check from I.C.B. in the amount of $140.75 covering my January pension payment was a most favorable surprise. Thanks for your prompt action.”
PBGC’s important work of protecting pensions and paying benefits continues today. Nearly 926,000 retirees in more than 5,000 trusteed plans receive their pension benefits from PBGC.