February 23, 2012 12:00 AM

Bank of America to freeze DB plans

Assets involved: $4.9 billionType of transaction: Longevity swapInsurer: Legal & GeneralDate: Feb. 21, 2013Country: U.K.

Aon

In May 2012, Akzo Nobel unloaded £1.4 billion in U.K. pension liabilities to Swiss Re.

Aon

In January 2012, Pilkington handed off £1 billion in U.K. pension liabilities to Legal & General.

Aon

In July 2010, British Airways executed a pension buy-in deal with Goldman Sachs / Rothesay worth £1.3 billion as part of its merger with Iberia. It was the first of two such deals.

Aon

In August 2011, ITV handed off £1.7 billion in U.K. pension liabilities to Credit Suisse

Business Insurance

Date freeze was implemented: Jan. 1, 2006Employees affected: New employees, and current employees with combined age and service under 62Date freeze was implemented: Jan. 1, 2008Employees affected: All employees

Aon

In February 2010, BMW agreed to unload £3 billion in U.K. pension liabilities to Abbey Life and Deutsche Bank.

Business Insurance

Date freeze was implemented: Jan. 1, 2006Employees affected: Nonunion employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2006

Business Insurance

Date freeze will be implemented: April 1, 2012Employees affected: All employees

Business Insurance

Date freeze was implemented: Jan. 1, 2009Employees affected: Employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2009

Business Insurance

Date freeze was implemented: July 1, 2009Employees affected: All employees

Learn where these frozen pension plans rank in P&I's 1000 Largest Retirement Funds.

Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., will freeze its defined benefit pension plans effective June 30, confirmed spokesman Scott Silvestri.

Mr. Silvestri said all eligible U.S. employees will move to a single defined contribution plan while retaining all the pension plan benefits earned up to June 30, Mr. Silvestri said.

The company also announced that it will contribute an additional 2% to 3% of employees' salaries to the company's 401(k) plan in addition to the existing matching contribution of up to 5%.

As of Sept. 30, Bank of America corp. had defined benefit assets of $14.3 billion and defined contribution assets of $18.5 billion, according to data submitted to Pensions & Investments.