Aon to push $123 million into worldwide pensions plans in 2020

Aon PLC, London, expects to contribute a total of $123 million to its global pension plans in 2020.

By region, the insurer expects to contribute $99 million to its U.S. plans, $19 million to other international plans and $5 million to its U.K. plans, the company disclosed Feb. 14 in a 10-K filing with the SEC.

In 2019, Aon contributed $78 million to the U.K. plans, $38 million to the U.S. plans and $19 million to other international plans.

As of Dec. 31, U.K. pension plan assets totaled $5.959 billion, while projected benefit obligations totaled $4.779 million, for a funding ratio of 124.7%, down from 126.5% the previous year. The discount rate as of that date was 2.09%, down from 2.95% a year earlier.

The actual allocation of U.K. pension plans as of Dec. 31 was: 80.5% fixed income; 13.1% alternative investments; 3% real estate; 2% equities; and 1.4% cash and cash equivalents.Also as of that date, U.S. pension plan assets totaled $2.066 billion, while PBO totaled $3.192 billion, for a funding ratio of 64.7%, up from 62.4% a year earlier. The range of discount rates for that date was 2.72% to 3.17%, down from a range of 3.92% to 4.26% a year earlier.

The actual allocation of U.S. plans as of Dec. 31 was: 42.4% fixed income; 38.7% equities; 8.8% alternative investments; 6.4% real estate; and 3.7% cash and cash equivalents.

Other international pension plan assets totaled $1.303 billion, while PBO totaled $1.425 billion, for a funding ratio of 91.4%, up from 90.9% a year earlier. The range of discount rates for the plans as of Dec. 31 was 0.91% to 3.1%, down from a range of 1.89% to 3.88% a year earlier.

The actual allocation of other international plans as of Dec. 31 was: 69.6% fixed income; 24.8% equities; 4.7% alternative investments; 0.5% real estate; and 0.4% cash and cash equivalents.