February 2021 Edition

As announced in the November 2020 edition, Omni, the new Desjardins mobile app, will be available March 2, 2021.

Omni will replace the Your Way app and will provide your plan members with a secure and user-friendly environment to view and manage their account, and even download their documents to their phone.

Lots of benefits

In addition to accessing their account information, your plan members will be able to:

• Establish their savings goals and decide how much they need to save with On Target Retirement^®, the retirement goal tracker
• Visit the Financial Wellness Centre
• Sign up for online Education Centre webinars on budgeting, managing debt, investing, and pension benefits

The augmented reality experience

By going to the My statements and documents section, your plan members will be able to watch their paper statement come to life with Omni’s augmented reality feature!

Users will be able to log on in a snap using biometric authentication with fingerprint or facial recognition, or their password.

Watch the video External link. Opens in a new window. to find out more and to see how your plan members can get the most out of Omni.

All-in-one

Omni will also replace the Claim 360° app. It’s been redesigned to help plan members manage their Desjardins group benefits file. If your plan members also have a group benefits plan with Desjardins, they’ll be able to manage both of their accounts with a single app.

Achieving financial wellness has never been easier! Omni is the all-in-one solution for all savings goals. Encourage your plan members to download it as soon as it’s launched!

As an employer and sponsor of a defined contribution pension plan, you already offer your employees an attractive benefit. But have you thought about helping them transition to retirement with an effective payout strategy? Variable benefits from Desjardins Insurance could be the perfect solution. They offer a number of advantages, for both employees and employers.

Advantages of variable benefits

With variable benefits, your employees will continue to have access to your plan's services and lower fees. Variable benefits can also provide peace of mind—plan members will continue to benefit from your plan administrator’s good governance and carefully selected funds.

If you choose this option, plan members who are retiring can leave their savings in your plan and increase its total value, so you can continue to benefit from economies of scale in management fees. And by offering an end-to-end retirement solution, you’re also showing your employees that you care about their financial well-being, which helps attract and retain talent.

Providing variable benefits is a way of supporting your employees in managing their financial health and ensuring that they can get the most out of the next stage of their life.

Contact your client relationship manager if you’d like to add variable benefits to your employee benefit program or request a detailed brochure.

To enhance your plan members’ financial wellness, we now offer them the possibility of choosing a different investment strategy for each of their savings goals. In order to offer this flexibility, we've carried out major system updates on our investment solutions.

With these updates, your plan members now have the option of choosing different investment approaches for each plan held in the same group.

Your plan members with more than one plan will be able to select:

• The same or different Lifecycle Paths
• Lifecycle Paths andà la carte portfolios
• More than one à la carte portfolio

With this change, we’ll be able to provide better support and eventually make recommendations based on your plan members’ specific goals.

Our documentation and enrolment forms are in the process of being updated accordingly.

If you have any questions, please contact your client relationship manager.

This is the complete schedule for the production and mailing of tax receipts and slips. You can find the same information in the Message centre of the plan sponsor website dfs.ca/plansponsor and on the plan member website.

Tax receipts (RRSP and VRSP)

Tax slips

The issue and mailing dates shown may vary by a day or two.

Each year, employers and Desjardins must issue the various slips required for employee tax returns.

See our cheat sheet (PDF, 93 KB) Opens in a new window.1 to find out which slips you need to produce for the plan(s) you offer.

Before you fill in your T4 slips, make sure that none of your Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP) plan members are specified shareholders or persons related to the employer. If you made plan contributions on behalf of these individuals both you and they could face serious tax consequences and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) could revoke your plan’s registration. If you find yourself in this situation, speak to your tax specialist, who will advise you on the steps to take to rectify your status with the CRA.

A person cannot participate in a DPSP if:

• they are related to the employer (for example, the majority shareholder of the employer or the majority shareholder’s spouse, child, brother, sister, mother, father, brother-in-law, etc.);
• they are a specified shareholder of the employer or of a company related to the employer, or if they are related to such specified shareholder;
• they are related to a member of the partnership, if the employer is a partnership; or
• they are, or are related to, a beneficiary under the trust, if the employer is a trust.

Generally speaking, a specified shareholder is a person who owns, directly or indirectly, at least 10% of the issued shares of any class of the capital stock of the company or of any other related company. For the purposes of determining the 10% threshold, a person is also deemed to own the shares of a company held by a person with whom they do not deal at arm’s length (such as a spouse, child, brother, sister, father, mother, brother-in-law, etc.).

Important: These definitions are not exhaustive. For advice on your specific situation, please speak to your tax specialist.

Reminder: Only employers can contribute to a DPSP.

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Ontario issued 2 new guidelines effective December 10, 2020. These guidelines are for administrators of defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pension plans registered in Ontario. They are designed to help administrators meet their fiduciary obligations with respect to their pension plan.

You can read the full text of the new guidelines on the FSRA website:

1. Missing Members – Principles and Practices External link.Opens in a new window.2: This guideline outlines principles and practices to aid pension plan administrators in searching for missing members. It applies to all types of benefit entitlements that are subject to the Ontario Pension Benefits Act.
2. Waiver of Biennial Statements for Missing Former and Retired Members External link.Opens in a new window.2: This guideline describes the approach pension plan administrators must take to apply for a waiver of the requirement to provide biennial statements (annual statements every 2 years) to former and retired members who are “missing.” It applies to all types of benefit entitlements that are subject to the Ontario Pension Benefits Act.

For questions regarding these new guidelines, please contact the FSRA. We will share more details on our practices and processes relating to these guidelines in the next issue of The Essential.

Desjardins Insurance is proud to announce the launch of 6 new funds on its group retirement savings platform on March 1, 2021. These funds will enhance our offering through different asset classes:

PH&N Balanced Fund

This actively managed fund aims to provide long-term capital growth and income by investing primarily in a well-diversified portfolio of Canadian common stocks, bonds and money market securities. It also holds a portion of its assets in foreign common stocks. The manager’s goal is to capitalize on market opportunities by anticipating the best performing asset class at each stage of the business cycle, and then expanding exposure to these classes to improve the overall return of the portfolio.

CC&L Canadian Equity Income & Growth Fund

This actively managed fund aims to maximize long-term total performance while generating a portfolio return that surpasses its benchmark. It invests in a portfolio primarily composed of income-oriented Canadian equities. The fund employs a bottom-up security selection approach, focused on companies’ growth outlook and careful valuation analysis. The manager seeks to strike a balance between securities with dividend growth and those with a high and sustainable rate of return.

T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Fund

This actively managed fund aims to provide long-term capital growth. It invests primarily in common shares issued by US large-cap growth companies. The manager identifies high-quality companies with market-leading positions in growth sectors. The fund combines valuation analysis and fundamental research, with a focus on sustainable growth rather than cyclical growth or momentum.

Amundi Global High Income & Low Volatility Equity Fund
Amundi Global High Income & Low Volatility Equity Hedged Fund

These passively managed funds are based on a multifactorial approach and aim to provide long-term capital growth while focusing on current returns and reduced volatility by investing in global equities. The hedged fund also aims to eliminate the effect of movements in the value of currencies against the Canadian dollar. The manager seeks to reproduce the performance and risk profile of a custom-built multifactorial index, which focuses on quality securities that generate income and display a defensive nature that offers capital protection in times of a bear market. Also, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors have been integrated into the index.

Mondrian Global Equity Fund

This actively managed fund aims to generate significant real returns and preserve capital during market declines by investing primarily in equity securities of developed markets around the world, including emerging markets. The manager uses a value-based approach that focuses on future returns and real growth in dividends. It applies a consistent dividend discounting model which compares value across all securities, markets and sectors.

For more information about these new funds, don't hesitate to contact your client relationship manager.

Fiera Capital

On January 12, 2021, Fiera Capital announced the retirement of Peter Cuthbert, President and Global Head of Fiera Real Estate, effective March 31, 2021, for personal reasons. Effective February 15, 2021, Richard Dansereau is the newly appointed President and Global Head of Fiera Real Estate. Mr. Dansereau has had a very successful 35-year career in the real estate sector in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.

Richard Dansereau has served on several investment and governance committees of various real estate funds and organizations. Mr. Dansereau also served as an independent member of the investment committee of the Fiera Real Estate CORE Fund for 5 years.

T. Rowe Price

On January 26, 2021, T. Rowe Price informed us that Larry Puglia, portfolio manager of the US Large-Cap Core Growth Equity Strategy, including the T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund, intends to retire from the firm at the end of 2021. Effective October 1, 2021, Paul Greene, currently the associate portfolio manager of the US Large-Cap Core Growth Equity Strategy, will succeed Larry Puglia.