September 2022 Edition

Continuing to advocate for you and your plan members

In May 2004, the Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators released Guidelines for Capital Accumulation Plans (CAP Guidelines) to reflect regulators’ expectations about the operation of a workplace CAP, regardless of the applicable regulatory regime. Desjardins Insurance was part of the industry task force that helped define these guidelines, which were in turn adopted by the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA) as Guideline No. 3 External link. Opens in a new window..

Close to 20 years later, CAPSA has invited stakeholders to weigh in on proposed changes to these guidelines. As stated by CAPSA, their intent is to:

• outline and clarify the regulators’ views on:
  • the responsibilities of CAP sponsors, administrators, service providers and CAP members, and
  • industry best practices in the maintenance and administration of a CAP; and
• detail the information that regulators recommend should be provided to CAP members.

As a leading Canadian group retirement savings service provider, Desjardins Insurance has once again participated in CAPSA’s consultation process—advocating for a practical approach to plan governance that helps plan sponsors and members achieve their goals.

We’re pleased that the scope of these guidelines has been broadened to reflect, amongst other things, additional plan types—including decumulation plans. They also expand on the CAP sponsor’s fiduciary role, recommend greater plan member disclosure and suggest features to improve member outcomes, such as advice services beyond investments.

As we evolve our service offer to reflect an ever-changing retirement and savings landscape, we’ll keep best practices top of mind. Our annual compliance certificate attests to our commitment to support you throughout the life of your group savings program, by complying with CAP guidelines as well as legislative requirements. As such, we’ll be updating it to keep in step with CAPSA’s revised guidelines.

Stay tuned for further developments and news on other CAPSA-related topics, as we continue to work in your best interests.

David Charbonneau

Senior Vice-President,
Group retirement savings
Desjardins Insurance

In order to improve the customer experience of our group retirement savings plan administrators, we’d like to obtain their cooperation in measuring their overall satisfaction with our services.

To this end, the Client Experience and Support Administrative Department of Desjardins Insurance has commissioned the research firm SOM to prepare and email a survey to all our group retirement savings plan administrators.

If you’re an administrator, watch your inbox for an email from SOM between September 7 and 17.

Thank you for your cooperation.

On September 28, 2022, we’ll hold the first sessions of our new webinar How to handle market fluctuations. Participants can attend the session at noon (ET) or at 3:00 pm (ET). This course is for plan members who want to learn how to better manage investments in these uncertain times.

This new webinar is part of our efforts to reassure plan members about market volatility. Our other initiatives included a video and message on the plan member site, and an email.

Additional webinars will be offered this fall:

• Debt Management 2.0: Boost your financial health with a sound approach to debt
• Responsible investment: positive results for you and the planet
• Converting your savings into retirement income
• Government pension benefit programs
• How to preserve and transfer your wealth

Our live webinars are offered to plan members free of charge. To sign up, all they have to do is:

• Log on to their Group retirement savings account via the Omni app or dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember Opens in a new window.
• Go to the Wellness Centre
• Visit the Education Centre and check the list under Available webinars
• Select the webinar(s) of interest
• Click the arrow next to the session they want

An invitation will be sent to your plan members at the beginning of September encouraging them to sign up for this new webinar.

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

Poster, 8.5 x 11 format (PDF, 1.53 MB) Opens in a new window.

Encourage your employees to enter the $1,000 closer to zen contest for a chance to win 1 of 5 cash prizes of $1,000!

Communication to plan members

On October 4, 2022, your plan members will receive an email inviting them to enter the contest. All they have to do is click the I’m in button in the email. They’ll then be prompted to take a fun and informative quiz to help them learn about our online tools and resources.

Two reminder emails are scheduled for November 8 and December 4, 2022, for plan members who didn’t open the initial email or who changed or added their email address during the contest period.

The contest closing date is December 4, 2022.

Draw and prizes

The draw for the 5 prizes of $1,000 will be held on December 14, 2022. The winners 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.

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

Poster, 8.5 x 11 format (PDF, 189 KB) Opens in a new window.

Poster, 11 x 17 format (PDF, 330 KB) Opens in a new window.

To learn more, read the full contest rules (PDF, 290 KB) Opens in a new window..

Please disregard this article if your fees are deducted from your plan(s).

To download your invoices related to the management of retirement plans:

• Log on to dfs.ca/plansponsor Opens in a new window.
• Go to Report centre > Personalized extract
• Select the Financial category
• Click the View button

Note that an email is sent to plan sponsors when a document becomes available on the plan sponsor services site.

Why are these invoices only online?

For ecological reasons, Desjardins Insurance no longer mails paper invoices.

Don’t forget to pay the balance of all your invoices at dfs.ca/plansponsor Opens in a new window..

We’d like to draw your attention to 2 important articles from the How to section that have been published since the beginning of the year.

These 2 articles are about bonuses and information access management.

Other important How to articles published since January 2022

Desjardins Insurance is proud to announce the launch of the Desjardins SocieTerra Positive Change (Baillie Gifford) Fund on its Group retirement savings platform on September 23, 2022. This fund, presented below, enhances our responsible investment offering.

Desjardins SocieTerra Positive Change (Baillie Gifford) Fund

This fund is actively managed and aims to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of companies located anywhere in the world, including emerging markets, whose products and services or conduct help to build a more sustainable world for future generations. The fund’s asset allocation and security selection are determined by the sub-portfolio manager, Baillie Gifford Overseas.

The sub-manager applies a fundamental, growth-oriented approach by selecting corporations that are able to show strong profit growth and that face critical challenges in a wide range of fields, including social inclusion and education, resource needs and the environment, health and quality of life as well as the fight against poverty.

To know more about this new fund, don’t hesitate to contact your client relationship manager.

Desjardins Insurance is proud to announce the addition of the Islamic Investment Principles Fund on its Group retirement savings platform on September 23, 2022. This fund, presented below, answers a growing need from plan members and sponsors for investment options that promote diversity and inclusion, by making available a diversified investment solution aligned with Muslim religious beliefs. Note that this fund was, up until now, offered on an off-platform basis under the name Specialized IP Fund.

Islamic Investment Principles Fund

This fund is passively managed and invests in a combination of global equity and gold exchange-traded funds which are in accordance with Islamic investment principles. These principles prohibit investing in interest-bearing securities as well as companies that profit off certain activities, including alcohol, tobacco, gambling and weapons, or that derive significant income from interest on loans.

The global equity exchange-traded fund (iShares MSCI World Islamic) aims to track the return of an index composed of companies from developed countries which comply with Islamic investment principles. The gold exchange-traded fund (SPDR Gold Shares) seeks to reflect the price performance of gold bullion. The Islamic Investment Principles Fund has a target allocation composed of 65% global equities and 35% gold, which results from the objective to minimize portfolio volatility.

For more information about this new fund, don’t hesitate to contact your client relationship manager.

Desjardins Insurance is proud to announce that as of September 23, 2022, the Desjardins Responsible Fixed Income Fund, offered on its Group retirement savings platform, will become the SocieTerra Fixed Income Fund. As for the Desjardins Responsible Growth Fund, it will become the SocieTerra Equity Fund.

These 2 responsible investment funds will now hold a single SocieTerra portfolio. This transformation allows for the standardization of the allocation process across the 7 responsible investing funds available on the platform. These changes follow the launch on the platform, on March 4, 2022, of the series of 5 SocieTerra target risk funds.

It should be noted that these transformations don’t have any impact on the investment approach or investment fee of the 2 impacted funds.

To know more about these changes, don’t hesitate to contact your client relationship manager.

On August 19, 2022, Beutel Goodman announced the retirement of David Gregoris, Managing Director, Fixed Income, effective June 30, 2023.

Mr. Gregoris is currently the Fixed Income Team Leader and one of 7 members of the Asset Allocation Committee for the Beutel Goodman Balanced Fund.

He’ll be replaced by Derek Brown, a senior member of the fixed income team.