October 2020 Edition

Desjardins has shown its flair for innovation once again, by taking a fresh approach to Co-op Week programming with innovative online activities. The 50th edition of Co-op Week ran from October 11 to 17, 2020, with the theme "Your partner in financial wellness."

Two of the novelties this year were our on-demandfinancial literacy webinars available to everyone, and an online escape room game celebrating Desjardins's 120th anniversary.

Online escape room showcasing our history and cooperative difference

Co-op Week marked the official launch of a one-of-a-kind virtual escape room with a historical twist. Play as a group with co-workers, friends or family! You can find the game on Desjardins.com.

Webinars External link. This link opens in a new window.

• Financial education
• Responsible investment
• Budgeting

Feel free to share this news with your plan members, via email or your intranet.

Want to help your employees reach financial empowerment? Nothing could be simpler! You can now promote the Education Centre using the material developed for you:

Posters to print and display in your workplace

8.5 x 11 poster (PDF, 154 KB) Opens in a new window.

11 x 17 poster (PDF, 175 KB) Opens in a new window.

Web banner (800 x 422, PNG, 497 KB) Opens in a new window. for your intranet or internal newsletter (for example)

Descriptive text (Word, 23 MB) Opens in a new window. to be used in your internal communications (e.g. benefits newsletter)

These materials will support the communication campaign that has been underway since the beginning of September and will continue until the beginning of November.

Learn more about the campaign This link opens in a new window.

By promoting the Education Centre's free webinars, you are actively contributing to the financial well-being of your employees and highlighting your benefits program when they need it most.

What could be better than a contest to encourage your plan members to use our online services? By promoting the contest, you’re giving them a chance to win $1,000 in addition to helping them achieve financial empowerment.

Reminder

How to enter the contest:

1. Visit the secure member website via dfs.ca/participant
2. Sign up for electronic statements (My profile > Communication preferences) to double your chances of winning!

Prizes: 4 cash prizes of $1,000

Contest closing date: November 30, 2020

Draws: November 4 and December 3, 2020

Posters to promote the contest

[8.5 x 11 poster] (PDF, 4.6 MB) Opens in a new window.

[11 x 17 poster] (PDF, 4.7 MB) Opens in a new window.

To learn more, read the full contest rules (PDF, 263 KB).

Did you know that a Missing Information Report^{[ Note 1 ]} is posted in your account on the Plan Sponsor Services site each month? This report lists any plan member information missing from our records.

To avoid unpleasant surprises, you should contact plan members whose records are incomplete, especially if what we are missing is their enrolment information.

This is what happens if the plan member's enrolment information is incomplete, for each plan type:

If the plan member's enrolment information is incomplete	RRSP	TFSA	NRP	SPP/DC	DPSP
The plan member's account won't be registered with government agencies.			—Does not apply.	—Does not apply.	—Does not apply.
No tax receipts or slips will be issued.		—Does not apply.		—Does not apply.	—Does not apply.
Contributions will be returned after 90 days.				—Does not apply.	—Does not apply.
Contributions will be invested in a temporary fund that doesn't generate any returns.				—Does not apply.	—Does not apply.
Contributions will be invested in a daily interest savings account.	—Does not apply.	—Does not apply.	—Does not apply.
They will not have a designated beneficiary.
Personal information (address, phone number, email address, etc.) will be missing or not up to date.

For VRSPs, enrolment is automatic. However, you may receive a Missing Information Report if we're missing a plan member's beneficiary information or personal information. If this happens, have the plan member in question send us the missing information via the plan members site This link opens in a new window..

To view the report, go to the Report centre tile and open the Missing Information Report tab.

If you have any questions, contact your dedicated administrator or call Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762 This link launch your default phone software..

Are any of your plan members turning 71 this year? Be sure to review the What you can do paragraph below to ensure a smooth transition for them.

Plan members sometimes forget that they need to convert their registered retirement savings plan^{[ Note 2 ]} into a retirement income solution by the end of the year they turn 71. If they don't, we'll transfer any non-locked-in amounts to a RRIF and any locked-in amounts to a LIF. And if their balance is less than 20% of maximum pensionable earnings for the year ($11,740 for 2020), they'll receive a lump-sum payment, which is taxable.

We send plan members in this situation a statement of options every September and try to encourage them to choose how they want to convert their savings, but there are always a few stragglers. We're hoping you can help us help them.

What you can do

• Ensure that plan members' addresses are up to date so they receive their option statement.
• Remind plan members that our Retirement Specialists can not only help them understand their options, but also help them choose the combination that will best suit their needs.

Important: To make sure these plan members receive all the contributions and tax benefits they're entitled to, send us their final contributions (remittances and payments) by December 1, 2020. By law, we will have to return any contributions received after December 31, 2020.

We make it easy for plan members to decide how their savings will take them into retirement. They can call our Retirement Specialists at 1-877-585-3033 This link launch your default phone software.. And if you have any questions, you can contact your dedicated administrator or Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762 This link launch your default phone software..

As of October 13, 2020, Desjardins Investments Inc. is the new underlying manager for the Desjardins Canadian Equity Income Fund offered through the Group Retirement Savings platform. More specifically, the incumbent manager of the fund, Lincluden, was replaced by Desjardins Global Asset Management (DGAM) with a similar mandate. The fund's objective remains the same, which is to focus on providing high income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of Canadian issuers, including common and preferred shares of companies that pay dividends and shares of real estate investment trusts and income trusts. However, the investment strategy is based on selecting dividend-paying Canadian equities while maximizing risk-adjusted returns and relying on fundamental analysis. The active risk covered by the mandate has also been reduced from a 6%-9% range to a 2%-5% range.

It should be noted that this change does not impact the fund's fees.

For more information about this change, contact your client relationship manager.

On September 10, 2020, DGAM informed us that Philippe Mercier is now a portfolio manager in the fixed income team; he was previously a credit analyst. Philippe will now contribute to index matching and preferred share management activities as well as to the management of insurance clients' portfolios at DGAM.

On September 14, 2020, Fidelity informed us that effective October 1, 2020, Lee Ormiston will assume the role of co-portfolio manager responsible for several institutional portfolios, as well as mutual funds available exclusively to Canadian investors. In addition, he will co-manage various investment grade bond sub-portfolios available exclusively to Canadian investors.

On September 21, Fiera Capital announced the appointment of Anik Lanthier as President, Public Markets. She will report to Jean-Philippe Lemay, Global President and COO. Anik will lead all Public Markets activities globally, including the firm's equity, fixed income, liquid alternatives and multi-asset class solutions offering. In addition, Anik will also be responsible for putting in place a strong and focused leadership for all asset classes. Nicolas Papageorgiou will take on the newly created position of Global Head of Equity and Liquid Alternatives and will report to Anik. In his role, he will be responsible for the continued growth and diversification of their equity offering globally and for the building of an institutional grade liquid alternatives platform. Fixed income teams as well as the Multi-Asset solutions team will report to Anik until the leadership structure is finalized.