The US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a government-sponsored safety net for corporate pension benefits, yesterday urged Congress to change the rules that govern its funding as it announced losses that "dwarf anything in its history".

The agency said too many companies were "reneging on promises to workers and retirees and shifting costs" to the PBGC. Failure to strengthen its finances could lead to "unsavoury alternatives", including a possible tax payer-financed bail-out similar to that of the savings and loans industry in the 1980s.