June 2019 Edition

A police investigation, which Desjardins has been closely involved with, has revealed that the personal information of 2.9 million Desjardins caisse members was disclosed to individuals outside our financial institution without authorization. Crucially, members' passwords, security questions and PINs have not been compromised.

This situation only involves Desjardins caisse members who use our banking services in Quebec and Ontario. Group Retirement Savings plan members, plan sponsors and intermediaries are not affected.

Members of the Desjardins caisse network who want to learn more about this situation can visit this page External link. Opens in a new window. .

Your Group Retirement Savings team
Desjardins Insurance

According to the Benefits Canada 2019 CAP Member Survey External link. Opens in a new window., more than half of Canadian capital accumulation plan members are confident that they’re financially prepared for retirement, though there are generational differences.

How can we help you ensure that plan members of all ages are adequately prepared for their financial future? By leveraging technology.

Our suite of online educational tools helps plan members establish and follow a roadmap to their retirement goals.

• On Target Retirement^® helps gauge optimal savings levels by providing a more holistic assessment of an employee’s financial situation. The April edition of The Essential highlights how our goal tracker helps address concerns around financial literacy by accounting for plan members’ tendencies towards unrealistic assumptions.
• Our personalized videos, also accessible across multiple devices, provide employees with the nudge they need to take action.
• Our latest educational video shows members where their retirement income will come from and helps them better assess their savings needs.

Our targeted communications reflect generational and personal realities and help promote engagement, starting at enrolment and continuing throughout retirement. Topics range from the benefits of contributing early to the value of the employer match, the importance of planning ahead and the conversion of savings into retirement income.

We focus on topics that are top of mind for your plan members, as evidenced by the survey. For example, the employer match was found to be the main driver for joining a workplace savings plan. And close to half of those surveyed believe that they need to start focusing on how to draw down their savings four to five years before retiring, while the vast majority feel unprepared to do so.

Our modern approach to saving reflects the need to broaden the scope of traditional retirement savings plans to take individual life goals into account. Our tools and services, including our Financial Wellness Centre, help plan members of all ages set realistic short-, mid- and long-term savings goals and establish sound financial behaviours so they can reach those goals.

We've got a win-win for your plan members this summer: If they log into the website and make sure their retirement savings are on track, they'll be entered to win $5,000!

It’s easy. All they need to do is complete or update their information in On Target Retirement^® between July 1 and September 29. The lucky winner can take their prize in cash (as a gift card) or deposit it into their workplace savings plan.

On Target Retirement is a smart, sleek and simple savings goal tracker that:

• Lets plan members create their own retirement scenarios and change information such as contribution rate or retirement age to see how it could make it easier for them to reach their goals
• Shows plan members how much they can expect from government plans, their workplace savings plan and their personal savings

For more details about the contest, read the full contest rules and regulations (PDF, 414 KB) Opens in a new window..

Did you know that plan members who visit dfs.ca/participant contribute an average of twice as much as those who don’t? And that plan members who complete On Target Retirement^® contribute on average three times as much as those who don’t visit the site?

Did you also know that 41% of Canadians rank money as their greatest stress1?

Because of this, we want to make sure our plan members have the knowledge and confidence they need to make sound financial choices.

We know that the best way to engage plan members is to keep financial wellness top of mind. The best way to do that is through email. Our email open rate is 42%2, double the industry average3 of 21%. And while plan members can choose to unsubscribe at any time, only 0.2%2 do so. We believe this open rate shows not only the importance plan members place on their workplace savings plans, but also that that they’re hungry for information that comes from a trusted source.

So we’ve taken the initiative to provide more of the straightforward financial education plan members need and want. We want to provide simple, useful information, from the time they enrol to when they retire.

Targeted and personalized emails will encourage plan members to take the next best action for them based on how engaged they already are. We plan to gradually ramp up the number of emails we send out, making sure our emails are relevant and speak to plan members, starting with an email campaign in June that asks plan members to log in to their account at dfs.ca/participant and explore the education, information and retirement planning tools available to them.

Our approach to financial wellness is in our participants’ best interest.

After having reviewed our practices concerning irrevocable beneficiaries, we no longer require the irrevocable beneficiary’s signature to process withdrawals.

Plan members with an irrevocable beneficiary can now call the Customer Contact Centre to have their withdrawals processed without providing the beneficiary’s consent. We’re currently working on applying this change to withdrawal requests submitted via the Participant services website.

The text on the benefits statement will also be adjusted accordingly.

The holiday schedule for the Customer Care Centre (CCC) and Plan Sponsor Services is as follows for June 24 and July 1:

• June 24: CCC OPEN - Plan Sponsor Services CLOSED
• July 1: CCC CLOSED - Plan Sponsor Services CLOSED

Financial transactions submitted by plan members online or by phone by 4 pm (ET) on June 24 were processed using the rates and unit values in force at market close. Financial transactions submitted by plan members online or by phone on July 1 will be processed using the rates and unit values in force at market close on July 2, as the markets will be closed for Canada Day.

Plan members and plan sponsors can perform transactions at any time by logging into their accounts.

For more information, please contact your plan administrator or Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762 This link will launch your default phone software..

The Missing Information Report lists any information missing from our records that we need for plan administration purposes, such as performing financial transactions for plan members or issuing tax slips.

Where can I find the Missing Information Report?

It’s automatically posted every month on the Plan sponsor site External link. Opens in a new window. website. To view it, go to the Report centre tile and open the Missing Information Report tab. It’s available for all types of plans, except defined benefit pension plans (DBPP), investment only plans (IO) and individual pension plans (IPP).

You can send the missing information in one of two ways

1. Log in to the website External link. Opens in a new window., click Participant management and provide the missing information.
2. Send us a demographic file with the missing information. We will update your records within 30 days.

For more information about the Missing Information Report, contact your plan administrator or call Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762 This link will launch your default phone software..

Desjardins Insurance is pleased to announce that new funds were launched on its group retirement savings platform on June 13, 2019. These funds, which are presented below, enhance our target date fund and US equity lineups.

Fidelity ClearPath^® Institutional Funds
(Income, 2020, 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045, 2050, 2055, 2060)

This family of target date funds allows members to benefit from an asset allocation that automatically adjusts based on their investment horizon. Over time, each fund’s asset mix shifts to reflect a lower risk tolerance until 20 years after its target retirement date. The funds’ asset classes and asset allocation glidepath are the same as for the retail version of the Fidelity ClearPath^® Funds currently offered on the platform.

However, unlike the retail version, which is made up of actively managed underlying funds only, the Fidelity ClearPath^® Institutional Funds combine active and index management, with the allocation between each varying by asset class based on market efficiency, size of the investment universe and manager capabilities. The average index allocation across all funds is 30%, mostly concentrated in government bonds and large-cap US equities.

Investment fees for the Fidelity ClearPath^® Institutional Funds are also lower than the retail version.

DFS BlackRock^® US Equity Index (Non-Registered) Fund

This fund is passively managed and aims to provide returns derived primarily from long-term capital appreciation by investing in a broadly diversified portfolio of US equity securities. Like the DFS BlackRock® US Equity Index Fund, currently available on the platform, this fund seeks to track the return and risk profile of the S&P 500. Its return objective is, however, reduced by 0.40% to account for the taxes withheld on dividends by the fund.

All investor types are permitted to invest in this fund, including non-registered plans and tax-free savings accounts (TFSA).

For more information about these new funds, please contact your client relationship manager.

Fidelity ClearPath^® is a registered trademark of FMR Corp. and BlackRock^® is a registered trademark of BlackRock, inc. Used with permission.

Beutel Goodman announced their succession plan for Mark Thomson’s retirement next spring. James Black, who has assumed coverage of the insurers and banks, will also assume the role of Director of Research. Pat Palozzi will co-manage the Canadian equity team with Mark until Mark retires, at which time he will assume sole responsibility for the mandate. Steve Arpin will be named head of the Canadian Equity team.

Addenda has informed us of Yanick Desnoyers’s appointment to the role of Vice President and Senior Economist. After working for the Bank of Canada and National Bank Financial, he joined the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec as Deputy Chief Economist and Team Lead before coming to Addenda.

On May 7, we learned that Julie Toran, CFA, has joined Lazard Asset Management and will serve as Portfolio Manager/Analyst on the Global, European and International Small Cap teams. Julie’s primary responsibility will be as a generalist for North American stocks with secondary responsibility for European and non-US stocks.

In the absence of Geneviève Dubé, Stéphane Corriveau has been acting as chief compliance officer since September 30, 2018. Certain functions, including legal and compliance, have been reorganized within the firm, which explains Geneviève Dubé’s departure. Geneviève has agreed to provide support over the coming months to help ensure a smooth transition.

Fiera Capital announced that it has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Natixis Investment Managers, a C$1.2 trillion investment manager with a deep and diversified investment platform. Fiera Capital will become Natixis' preferred distributor in Canada. In addition, Natixis will be taking a position of approximately 11% in Fiera, further diversifying the firm’s ownership structure. It will now be divided between the public (56%), the firm’s employees (19%), Natixis (11%), Desjardins (7%) and the National Bank (7%). Fiera Capital has announced an agreement with Foresters Financial whereby Fiera will acquire Canadian-based Foresters Asset Management (FAM). FAM is a $10.5 billion investment management firm focused on liability-driven investment (LDI) and fixed-income mandates tailored to the insurance and institutional market segments.

On May 8, NEI Investments announced the appointment of John Bai to the position of Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Aviso Wealth and NEI Investments. John will be responsible for the strategic direction of the firm’s investment approach and philosophy, including its disciplined asset allocation process, sub-advisor research and due diligence. He comes to NEI with more than 25 years of investment experience working with some of Canada’s top financial institutions.

Jayson Moss, an analyst with the Franklin Bissett Investment Management team, has resigned. He did not have any portfolio management responsibilities. His sector coverage included industrials, non-retail consumer discretionary, information technology and healthcare for the Franklin Bissett mid- to large-cap strategies.