April 2021 Edition

At Desjardins, every day is Earth Day. Our commitment to sustainable development drives our purpose and is reflected in everything we do.

This commitment also fuels our investment offer, with responsible investment (RI) front and centre. The fact that Desjardins Group has more than $4.5B held in RI by our members and clients1 is testament to this. In addition, we were the first Canadian financial institution to sign the UN's Principles for Responsible Banking (UPRB)2.

This focus on sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles is also demonstrated in the funds offered through our Group retirement savings (GRS) investment lineup: 100% of fund managers on our platform are signatories of the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI). We also offer 4 unique RI solutions (the SocieTerra Funds), composed of 9 underlying ESG mandates. Read our 2020 annual report (PDF, 2.4 MB) Opens in a new window. to find out more about responsible investing at Desjardins.

SocieTerra Funds and Portfolios

When you offer SocieTerra Funds and Portfolios to your plan members, they're benefitting from over 30 years of know-how3:

• 1990: Launch of the Desjardins Environment Fund
• 2009: Launch of the SocieTerra Portfolios
• 2016: Launch of Canada's very first green bond fund (Desjardins Environmental Bond Fund) and the first clean technology fund in Canada (Desjardins SocieTerra Cleantech Fund), the first of a series of thematic impact funds
• 2018: Launch of the Desjardins SocieTerra Positive Change Fund, which invests in companies that are actively working to build a more sustainable world for future generations. The fund addresses 13 of the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals.
• 2020: Launch of the Desjardins SocieTerra Diversity Fund, which invests in companies with strong female representation

Think about adding responsible investment solutions to your fund lineup

More than 2,000 studies4 have confirmed that responsible investment solutions offer a return potential that is just as attractive as what you would get with a traditional investment—sometimes even better!

For more information on the GRS responsible investment funds, contact your client relationship manager.

The online Education Centre's webinar offering has been revamped. Since early April, plan members can participate in webinars via Webex using only VoIP technology, which offers them many benefits:

• Easier access to our online courses: no configuration is required
• More flexibility: only an Internet connection is needed
• Instant connection: phone not required

Our live webinars are offered to plan members free of charge. To sign up, they can just log on to the plan member website via dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember Opens in a new window. and visit the Education Centre, which can be found under the Wellness Centre tab.

Available promotional material

We'll be sending emails to plan members on occasion to promote the webinars. In addition, tools are also available in the plan sponsor website message centre to help you promote the Education Centre and our webinars.

Promoting these webinars is a way for you to actively contribute to your employees' financial wellness.

Before transferring a retiring allowance or severance pay, see our checklist (PDF, 130 KB) Opens in a new window. to:

• Distinguish between a retiring allowance and severance pay
• Identify the plans you can transfer to
• Know which portion is eligible for transfer

How to transfer the eligible portion

You need to make a separate remittance apart from your regular one. Then contact your plan administrator or Plan Sponsor Services (1-888-510-4762 or grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca) to let them know that it's a retiring allowance or severance pay.

For more information on the taxation of retiring allowances, visit the CRA website External link. Opens in a new window. and refer to our checklist (PDF, 130 KB) Opens in a new window..

Did you know that each province has different rules for the defined contribution (DC) plan? That's why we must send you a new plan appendix when you add a new province of employment for employees who will work in a province other than your plan's registration province. This appendix will give you the rules specific to the new province of employment.

Important: You don't need to request a new appendix each time you hire other employees who will work in a province of employment that you have already added.

What you need to do

If such a case arises, please notify your client relationship manager as soon as possible. They will relay the information to our Plan Administration team, who will produce the necessary appendix, make changes to your plan rules as necessary and return the documents to you for signature.

When making your contribution remittances, incorrect or missing information can cause error messages, whether you're using the contribution remittance interface or the standard file.

Two common situations and their solutions in case of error messages:

1. Contribution remittance interface

Situation: You pre-enrolled a new plan member and entered a contribution remittance, then got an error message.

Solution: Please wait 24 hours before doing anything as our system may not be up to date. If both the pre-enrolment and contribution remittance aren't in the system the next day, contact your plan administrator.

2. Standard file

Situation: You sent the standard file and got the following message:

Solution: The message tells you exactly where the mistakes are. Simply follow these steps:

• In the Excel file, correct the line indicated in the message
• Rename the file by adding an underscore R at the end of the original name (example: G00123456_COT_20210304_R)
• Submit the file the same way you did the first time

Please note: The new file will automatically overwrite the previous one.

IMPORTANT: If you get another error message, call your plan administrator.

If you think you have made an error

To make corrections to amounts, contribution types, periods or other information, or if you think there was a problem with the data transfer, call your plan administrator as soon as possible or call Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762 or send them a note at grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca.

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 administrator of your group retirement savings plan.

Here's how

For changes to an existing administrator, like a new email address or phone number, call or email your client relationship manager or Plan Sponsor Services at grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca or 1-888-510-4762.

To add a new administrator, fill out the Request to grant or revoke access to plan information and plan members' personal information (PDF, 1.4 MB) Opens in a new window. form and return it to your client relationship manager or Plan Sponsor Services by email at grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca.

Important: Since the form contains personal information, you must secure it before sending. For more details on how to secure files, contact us at 1-888-510-4762.

Mirova

On March 3, Mirova announced that Francesca Suarez, ESG analyst, left at the end of February for personal reasons. Until a new analyst is hired, Mathilde Dufour, Head of Sustainable Development Research - Listed Assets, will monitor Green Bonds in the Desjardins portfolio with the support of Manon Salomez, ESG analyst.

Fiera Capital

On March 8, Fiera Capital announced the addition of a specialized team in global equities, made up of four experienced investment professionals who previously worked together at AMP Capital: Simon Steele, Senior Portfolio Manager, and Neil Mitchell will be based in Fiera Capital's London office, while David Naughtin and Andy Gardner will be based in Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia, respectively. Fiera Capital's current global equity strategy will continue for its clients. The capacity settings currently applicable (strategy closed to new customers and limited capacity for existing customers) are still in effect.