May 2019 Edition

The week of April 15, 2019, was an important one for Desjardins in Western Canada. Mr. Guy Cormier, President and CEO of Desjardins Group, visited Vancouver and met with a Group retirement savings client, credit unions and employees. He also found time to participate in a meeting of the Business Council of Canada, deliver a speech to the Vancouver Economic Commission, be part of a panel at Simon Fraser University, and give interviews to BC Business Magazine and BNN Bloomberg External link. Opens in a new window..

During these interviews, Mr. Cormier highlighted our successful expansion in Canada, the limitations of using GDP to measure growth, and a study on GDP by the Desjardins Economic Studies team External link. Opens in a new window., winner of the FocusEconomics Best Economic Forecaster Award in both 2017 and 2018.

There is no doubt that this visit contributes to raising Desjardins’ profile in Western Canada.

In March, we provided highlights of a presentation given at the 2019 Defined Contribution (DC) Plan Summit by Jean-Pascal Plamondon, National Director of Client Relations and Investment Solutions. You can now watch a video of this presentation External link. Opens in a new window. and learn more about Desjardins’ modern approach to savings.

Industry conferences such as the DC Plan Summit allow us to stay abreast of the latest trends and always work in our clients’ best interests.

To make sure you can leave work behind and really enjoy your vacation:

1. Fill out the Authorization to Access Plan and/or Personal Participant Information form Opens in a new window. to designate a replacement and give them the level of access they need to the plan sponsor site.

   By completing this authorization form, your back-up will be issued their own user ID that will allow us to help them if they call. Please note that for security reasons, you should never share your user ID with anyone.

2. Train your back-up on:
   • Enrolments
   • Updates to personal information
   • Terminations
   • Contribution remittances

For help on training your back-up, refer to the administrative guide on the plan sponsor site at dfs.ca/plansponsor External link. Opens in a new window. under Guides and procedures.

Production of the June statements will soon begin. To make sure your plan members get their paper or e-statements, their postal and email addresses must be up-to-date in our systems. You can help us out by reminding your employees to change their addresses themselves at dfs.ca/participant or by doing it for them on the plan sponsor site.

• Plan member site External link. Opens in a new window.: Your plan members can update their addresses by clicking on their name at the top-right of their screen, selecting Your profile and under the Information section, clicking on Edit.
• Plan sponsor site External link. Opens in a new window.: Click Participant management. Search for the person whose address has changed and make the necessary corrections.

If you have a lot of changes to make, you can send them to us in a standard demographic file. For more details, please contact your advisor or client relationship manager, or call Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762 This link will launch your default phone software..

Thank you for helping us keep your plan members’ information up-to-date.

To serve you better, we need accurate, up-to-date information on file. Let us know about any changes to your role or contact information, or if a new person will be sharing your role or taking over as plan sponsor.

Here’s how:

• For changes to an existing administrator, like a new email address or phone number, call or email your advisor or Plan Sponsor Services.
• To add a new administrator, fill out the Authorization to Access Plan and/or Personal Participant Information Opens in a new window. form and return it to your advisor or Plan Sponsor Services by email or fax.

Desjardins Insurance is proud to announce the launch of a new fund on its Group retirement savings platform effective April 10, 2019. This fund, which is presented below, enhances our foreign equity offering.

Beutel Goodman American Equity Fund

This fund is managed by Beutel, Goodman & Company, a privately-owned investment management firm based in Toronto that manages its equity mandates in adherence to a disciplined value investment philosophy, based on the belief that capital preservation is key to strong long-term returns. The fund aims to provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in common stocks and other equity securities of American issuers. The manager seeks companies creating shareholder value through the sustainable generation of free cash flow.

For more information about this new fund, do not hesitate to communicate with your client relationship manager.

We were advised that Daniel Solomon, SVP, CIO & Portfolio Manager, left Aviso at the end of March. He was responsible for the NEI funds investment team. His position has been posted.

NEI has advised us of changes in personnel in one component of the Canadian Equity Fund. Ian Cook, Portfolio Manager for QV’s Canadian Small Cap and Canadian Small Mid Cap mandates, is on a personal leave of absence because of a non-life-threatening medical issue. During his absence, Steven Kim will assume his responsibilities.

As part of its governance process, Desjardins Insurance evaluates each fund offered on its Group retirement savings platform on a quarterly basis to ensure compliance with its selection criteria.

This evaluation is based on four main elements:

• Personnel
• Investment processes
• Compliance with the stipulated management style
• Performance

The result of this analysis is that some funds are placed on a watch list that is updated every quarter.

For each fund on the watch list, the areas of concern are identified and then closely monitored. Funds will remain on the watch list until the situation has been resolved, or in the event that the concerns persist, until they are no longer recommended or are removed from the platform.

Our fund watch list, including a list of funds no longer recommended, is published quarterly in the Your news section of the plan sponsor services External link. Opens in a new window. website.

Our fourth educational video explains how to prepare for retirement in clear and simple language. In less than two minutes, it lists various retirement income sources and explains how you can assess your financial needs. It will be posted online at dfs.ca/participant. Feel free to post it on your own intranet, screen it on your cafeteria TV or include it in your internal newsletter.

Want to share our previous educational videos?

• If your plan includes a group RRSP, share our HBP video, available in English (MP4, 19 KB) External link. Opens in a new window. and French (MP4, 20 KB) External link. Opens in a new window..
• If your plan includes employer contributions, share our video on this topic, available in English (MP4, 34 KB) External link. Opens in a new window. and in French (MP4, 37 KB) External link. Opens in a new window..

Our members’ financial wellness matters to us. Several years ago, Desjardins Insurance’s Group retirement savings team started making a conscious effort to clarify and simplify the financial information we give our plan members.

Our website is now 100% mobile-responsive, which means plan members can make real-time transactions on their smartphones and tablets. They can now print out statements, sign up for a plan or even change beneficiaries.

The site can be accessed from any device: smartphone, tablet or computer.

Some pages, like Investment options, offer a table view, and updated pages include:

• Make a withdrawal
• Investment options
• Designate your beneficiaries
• Financial summary
• Unit value history
• On Target Retirement^® Frequently asked questions

As always, our goal is to enhance the plan member experience and spark interest. That’s why we’ve developed an attractive, streamlined interface that will help members achieve financial wellness.

Stay tuned—there’s more to come!