September 2021 Edition

Although essential services will be maintained, our offices will be closed on Thursday, September 30 for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We stand together in support of Indigenous communities and remember their history.

Canada recently created this day to honour the memory of residential school victims and survivors, which highlights the importance of reflecting upon and raising awareness of Indigenous history and experience.

Plan Sponsor Services:

Plan sponsor online services are always available on the plan sponsor services website at dfs.ca/plansponsor Opens in a new window..

The plan sponsor phone line will be closed on September 30.

Plan members:

As always, plan members have access to their group retirement savings online account via the secure website or the Omni Desjardins app.

As usual, they can reach the Desjardins Customer Contact Centre at 1-800-968-3587 from 8 am to 8 pm (ET). They can also write to us by clicking Contact us on the secure website.

Financial empowerment is within your plan members’ reach. With motivation, a little knowledge and some practical tools, they’ll be on their way to a strong financial future.

To get your plan members started, we’re launching the On your way to financial empowerment! contest. By entering the contest, they’re getting closer to their savings goals, and they could win up to $3,000!

To enter the contest, all they have to do is:

1. Log on to their Group retirement savings account via dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember or via Omni Desjardins, between October 5 and December 5, 2021.
2. Visit the Financial Wellness Centre for a chance to win $1,500.
3. Enter or update their information in On Target Retirement and they could win another $1,500!

Details on draws and prizes

To choose the 2 winners, 2 draws will be held—one on November 2 and another on December 7, 2021. The winners will each receive either $1,500 or $3,000, as explained above. They can have the money paid out to them directly or deposited into their Group retirement savings plan. If they select a registered plan, they must ensure there is sufficient contribution room.

Communication to plan members

On October 5, 2021, your plan members will receive an email inviting them to enter the contest.

You can print out these posters or upload them to your intranet to promote the contest to your employees:

contest poster, 8.5 x 11 format (PDF, 671 MB) External link. Opens in a new window.

contest poster, 11 x 17 format (PDF, 814 MB) External link. Opens in a new window.

To learn more, read the full contest rules (PDF, 291 KB) External link. Opens in a new window..

As of October 6, and 8, 2021, Budget 2.0: Enrich your life with a sound cash flow action plan will be added to our webinar offer. This course responds to the needs of plan members who want to learn how to better manage their cash flow in order to save more and achieve financial empowerment.

Over the past year, our main focus has been to build the foundations of your plan members’ financial knowledge by covering topics of general interest in our webinars, such as:

• Budgeting
• Debt management
• Investments
• Saving plans and government pensions
• Payout products
• Retirement savings plans and their impact on income taxes
• Goal-based savings

Our live webinars are offered to plan members free of charge. To sign up, they just need to:

• Log on to their Group retirement savings account via the Omni app or at dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember Opens in a new window.
• Go to the Wellness Centre
• Visit the Education Centre

An email was sent to your plan members on August 31 encouraging them to sign up for this new webinar.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requires all employers who sponsor a registered pension plan (RPP)¹ to file a T1007 – Connected Person Information Return External link. Opens in a new window.. within 60 days of a person connected with an employer (connected person) becoming a member of the RPP. To find out what you need to do, read the Employer Instructions section on the T1007 return.

The T1007 late filing penalty is $25 per day, for up to a maximum of 100 days.

A connected person² is an individual who meets 1 or more of the following conditions:

• The individual owns (or is deemed to own), directly or indirectly, at least 10% of the issued shares of any class of the capital stock of the employer, or of any other corporation that is related to the employer.
• The individual doesn’t deal at arm's length with the employer. It includes people like the employer's majority shareholder, and anyone related to the majority shareholder, such as a spouse, child, sibling, parent or in-law.
• The individual is deemed to be a specified shareholder of the employer under paragraph (d) of the definition of “specified shareholder” in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act.

An individual is deemed to own all or a part, depending on the situation, of the company shares owned by:

• Someone related to the individual who doesn’t deal with the employer at arm’s length (such as the spouse, child, sibling, parent, in-law)
• A trust for which the person is the beneficiary
• A partnership of which the person is a member

Important: This is not an exhaustive list of definitions. For advice on your specific situation, please speak to your tax specialist.

The bonus management solution makes the allocation of remittances simple. At the end of each bonus period, you receive a detailed report that tells you how plan members want to receive them. All that’s left for you to do is process the transactions. This solution is available for:

• Registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) with or without restriction
• Non-registered plans (NRPs)
• Tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs)
• Voluntary retirement savings plans (VRSPs)

What about DPSPs?

A bonus payable to an employee provided for in an employment contract or collective agreement cannot be paid into a DPSP. Only employer contributions can be paid into it. However, an employer contribution to a DPSP that’s contingent on a precondition, such as employee performance, can be made to the plan if it’s paid out of profits or based on profits, and is permitted under the plan.

To sign up for bonus management, contact your client relationship manager or call Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762.

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 DFS plan administrator 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, 1.01 MB) Opens in a new window. form and return it to your DFS plan administrator or Plan Sponsor Services via our secure website at dfs.ca/plansponsor by clicking File transfer (Accepted formats: CSV, XLS, XLSX, PDF, TXT, BMP, JPG, TIF, GIF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, PPT, PPTX).

Desjardins Global Asset Management (DGAM)

On July 26, 2021, DGAM announced that Marc Provost, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Public Markets, Organizational Strategy, intends to retire after 6 years with DGAM. Marc Provost will be leaving on October 1, 2021. Following Marc Provost’s departure, Christian Duceppe will take on the role of Chief Investment Officer, Public Markets.

T. Rowe Price

On July 29, 2021, T. Rowe Price announced that Bill Stromberg, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Management Committee and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), has decided to retire from the company on December 31, 2021. Bill Stromberg will continue to sit on the board of directors as a non-executive director. The T. Rowe Price Group’s Board of Directors has named Rob Sharps, as Bill Stromberg’s successor, effective January 1, 2022. Mr. Sharps is currently President, Head of Investments, and Group Chief Investment Officer at the firm.

As of January 1, 2022, Eric Veiel will become the Head of Global Equity. Eric will also chair the Investment Management Steering Committee and he will be joining the International Steering Committee (ISC) at that time.

As of January 1, 2022, Josh Nelson will be replacing Eric Veiel as Head of U.S. Equity and Chairman of the U.S. Equity Steering Committee and he will be joining the Management Committee.