Legal

American Airlines is trying to reassure employees that most of them will get full pensions even if the company terminates its retirement plans in bankruptcy.

American Airlines contributed only $6.5 million of the $100 million that it was supposed to pay into employee pension plans last week.The underpayment raised tensions between the company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, and federal pension-protection officials.

Under a state senator's proposal, employees and their employers would have to contribute to a system similar to a 401(k) where their money is invested and their retirement payment depends on their total investments when they retire.

Lincoln Trust Co. last week released a report on six megatrends that would affect the retirement plan industry in 2012, including the new fee disclosure legislation and changing fiduciary standards.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration wrote a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission commending the organization for the care it took in coordinating its external business conduct standards for swap dealers and major swap participants with the U.S. Department of Labor.

Federal regulators are moving ahead with a rule that would ban banks from trading for their own profit. But they offered to consider adjustments after lawmakers expressed concerns that restrictions could hurt the economy.