The U.S. Department of Labor has announced three new cases against companies in which it alleges participants in retirement plans were being harmed.

City and county pension plans saw their ratio of unfunded future liabilities plummet more than 10 percentage points to 69 percent from 2011 to 2012.

Cash and security holdings by the 100 largest public pension funds in the U.S. reached record levels of nearly $3 trillion in the second quarter, according to the Census Bureaus monthly report released Monday.

The rise of external management fees paid by pension funds and other institutional investors are the largest part of total fund expenses, rising 55 percent over that last 15 years.

CalPERS believes it is the first U.S. pension fund to adopt specific investment beliefs to guide it over the long run.

The 401(k) giant denies the allegations, which include claims it loaded up the plan menu with its own, actively managed proprietary funds.

Chicago became the latest U.S. city to see its financial prospects dragged down by its pension obligations when Standard & Poors changed its outlook to negative, while affirming its A-plus bond rating.

The heads of two pension funds have joined a group of investment-related professionals from around the world working to avoid the kind of economic collapse that occurred in the last downturn.