June 2020 Edition

Since the start of these unprecedented times, the Desjardins Group and the Group retirement savings team have been there for you and your plan members.

We responded quickly to align with government recommendations and to comply with social distancing protocols in all our activities. Within two weeks, over 80% of the Desjardins Group employees were fully working from home. Within the Group retirement savings team, over 96% of our employees are currently working from home.

Our Customer Contact Centre experienced an increase in the volume of calls over the past two months compared to the same period last year. The increase in calls mostly came from members who were very concerned about the downfall of the stock market and the impact on their retirement savings. However, since mid-May, we have seen the volume of calls come down and are slowly getting back to normal volumes.

We continue to react quickly Opens in a new window. to address plan members’ concerns:

• On May 6, we invited plan members to attend a live webinar External link. Opens in a new window. with Desjardins experts. The recorded version of that webinar is now available via the same link.
• On May 20, we extended invitations to plan members to attend our COVID-19 adapted online education sessions Opens in a new window. regarding debt management.

Plan members reacted positively, with thousands of views of the May 6 webinar and good attendance at the education sessions. This demonstrates the need to support and accompany your plan members.

Throughout this period, we have encouraged your plan members to use our online services and this resulted in a sharp increase in web usage. We also recently created two tutorials Opens in a new window. to support them when opening their account or retrieving their user ID or password.

While we continue processing requests received by mail, we invite you to use our online plan sponsor services via dfs.ca/plansponsor. You can also reach us by email or by contacting your client relationship manager.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada Revenue Agency has announced that the 1% rule for minimal contributions under a defined contribution pension plan was suspended for the rest of 2020.

Normally, plan sponsors have to contribute a minimum annual amount (employer contributions) equivalent to 1% of the total pensionable earnings of all active plan members. To benefit from this relief measure, provincial authorities must also allow a suspension of both employee and employer contributions. So far, the federal pension legislation authority, as well as three provincial authorities: Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, have authorized the possibility to amend a pension plan text in order to suspend contributions until the end of 2020.

Eligible plan sponsors who want to take advantage of this relief measure for the rest of 2020 must submit an amendment request to the Canada Revenue Agency - Registered Plans Directorate as well as the provincial or federal pension plan authority. They can then suspend their contributions without having to terminate the plan, as is normally required under the law.

For pension plans registered under other provincial authorities, contributions can’t be completely suspended at this time. We are closely monitoring this rapidly evolving situation and will keep you informed of any other announcements.

If you have questions regarding the above, contact Plan Sponsor Services or your client relationship manager.

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.

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 (PDF, 1.4 MB) Opens in a new window. form and return it to your advisor or Plan Sponsor Services by email or fax.

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 services 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 us the missing information in one of two ways

1. Log in to the website 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..

In April, Luc Gibelleau took his retirement. DGAM had already announced his planned departure at the end of last year. His position as sector portfolio manager in the Canadian equities team at DGAM will be occupied in part by Pasquale Posteraro and to a lesser extent by Anne Perreault.

In addition, DGAM has hired two new resources. Kim Desmarais and Pierre-Alexandre Renaud have joined the team as responsible investment analysts. They are under the direction of Christian Felx.

Toronto-based CI Financial Corp. announced on April 21 that it is set to acquire a strategic interest in registered investment advisor (RIA) The Cabana Group, LLC. Based in Fayetteville, Ark., Cabana specializes in offering risk-managed portfolios to retail clients and on a sub advisory basis to advisors and RIAs across the U.S.

On May 7, Baillie Gifford announced changes in the team managing the Global Equity strategy. Charles Plowden, portfolio manager for Global Alpha and joint senior partner will retire in April 2021 after 38 years with the firm. At the end of May, Helen Xiong joined the Global Alpha team. She transitioned from the U.S. Equity team and will become a Global Alpha decision maker as of May 1, 2021. As of that date, the three managers for Global Alpha will be Helen Xiong, Malcolm MacColl and Spencer Adair. Malcolm and Spencer have worked with Charles on the Global Alpha strategy since inception in 2005. Mrs. Xiong has been involved in Global Alpha for eight years, as both an analyst (2012-14) and an idea generation “scout”. She was recently promoted to become a partner of the firm.

On May 19, 2020, Desjardins Insurance changed the name of the five Melodia Funds offered through its group retirement savings platform. This change followed the ones that were implemented on the target allocation of certain Melodia Growth portfolios on that same date. These portfolios are a series of target risk portfolios managed by Desjardins Investments in which the Melodia Funds invest. In order to prevent the changes made to the Melodia Growth portfolios from impacting the target allocation of our Melodia Funds, minor adjustments were made to the underlying investments of certain Melodia Funds. This ensures consistency in the proportion of fixed income and equity securities of each fund.

The funds’ new names, shown in the table below, follow the same methodology as the one used for the Multi-Management Funds, which is to include the target mix in equities followed by the target mix in fixed income securities.

It should be noted that these changes did not have any impact on the funds’ fees.

For more information, do not hesitate to communicate with your client relationship manager.