March 2022 Edition

The conflict in Ukraine has unsettled people and markets around the world. Though the situation continues to evolve, we wanted to reassure you. When global financial markets are experiencing high volatility, plan members are advised to stay the course and maintain a diversified portfolio.

Historically, an investment lineup that includes broadly diversified and complementary investment solutions, like our portfolio of funds, makes it possible to get through in periods of market volatility. With more than 85% of Desjardins Insurance plan members invested in these solutions, it certainly helps them follow through.

The expertise of our investment managers allows them to take advantage of market opportunities and better manage investment risk. Our investment solutions support a diversified approach.

Communication to plan members

A similar message will be posted in the Message centre on the member site at dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember.

We’re here for you and your plan members

The entire Group retirement savings team is here for you and committed to doing what’s best for you and your plan members. You can always reach us by email or by contacting your client relationship manager.

Since the beginning of the year, we’ve stayed in touch with your plan members, guiding them towards financial wellness, and offering them our ongoing support along the way.

The year started off with a bang. We sent an email to all eligible plan members encouraging them to enter the Get closer to your dreams contest.

In mid-January, plan members received an email notifying them that they can download their tax receipts via their account at dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember or using the Omni app.

In late January, your plan members were invited to attend a webinar on responsible investing and to view a list of our other webinars.

By the end of March, all plan members who contributed to their plan in 2021 and before March 1, 2022, will be notified by email that they can access their tax receipts from their online account via dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember or the Omni app.

Our spring initiatives

In April, we will be conducting a direct mail campaign to promote our Omni app. A connected plan member is a plan member committed to financial empowerment.

In May, your plan members will be invited to participate in a new intermediary-level webinar on debt management. The first sessions will be held on June 7 and 8, 2022.

What about the rest of the year?

More exciting initiatives are in the works! Stay tuned to The Essential and you won’t miss a thing!

Has your team changed?

We need accurate, up-to-date information on file. That’s why the authorized signing officer (i.e. the plan sponsor or the plan administrator) must let us know about any changes to roles or contact information of:

• The person who has access to plan information and plan member information
• New employees who will be sharing roles or taking over as plan administrator, group manager or remittance manager

For all changes to existing accesses, like a new email address or phone number, contact your Desjardins plan administrator, or Plan Sponsor Services at grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca.

To add a new administrator or any other employee who must have access as part of their job (group manager or remittance manager), fill out the Request to grant or revoke access to plan information and plan members’ personal information (PDF, 1.4 MB) form and return it to your Desjardins plan administrator or Plan Sponsor Services by email to grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca.

Acceptable formats: CSV, XLS, XLSX, PDF, TXT, BMP, JPG, TIF, GIF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, PPT, PPTX

Important: Your email will need to be secured as it contains personal information. To find out how to secure your message, call us at 1-888-510-4762.

Did you know?

Canadian laws on the protection of personal information require Desjardins Insurance to protect the confidentiality of any personal information it collects about group retirement savings plan members. These laws also require Desjardins Insurance to limit access to this information exclusively to those individuals who administer their organization’s plan(s).

Beyond the requirements of the law, we have a professional obligation to respect the confidentiality of personal information of each plan member enrolled in a plan. In order to grant access to plan information and/or plan members’ personal information on our website at dfs.ca/plansponsor, we need to know who requires access to certain plan information.

For your part

You need to make sure that your employees, to whom access is granted, have a common understanding of the importance of privacy protection and the protection of all personal information to which they have access.

Before transferring a retiring allowance or severance pay, see our checklist (PDF, 46 KB) to:

• Distinguish between a retiring allowance and severance pay
• Identify the plans you can transfer to
• Know which portion is eligible for transfer

How to transfer the eligible portion

You need to make a separate remittance apart from your regular one. Then contact your plan administrator or Plan Sponsor Services (1-888-510-4762 or grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca) to let them know that it’s a retiring allowance or severance pay.

For more information on the taxation of retiring allowances, visit the CRA website External link. Opens in a new window..

Desjardins Insurance launched 6 new funds on its group retirement savings platform on March 4, 2022. These funds enhance our current offer across different asset classes.

SocieTerra portfolios: 5 new responsible investment (RI) funds

These 5 RI funds are composed of Desjardins SocieTerra funds. The underlying funds are actively managed and aim to reconcile the implementation of responsible investing principles while providing long-term competitive financial performance. The asset allocation of the different portfolios is in line with our other solutions available on our investment platform. The 5 RI funds are:

• SocieTerra Secure
• SocieTerra Moderate
• SocieTerra Balanced
• SocieTerra Growth
• SocieTerra Aggressive

At the same time, we’re very proud to confirm the launch of our responsible investment Lifecycle paths. These paths will follow the same path structure as the Progression Lifecycle offer and will be composed of the new responsible investment target risk funds.

Desjardins Global Equity (Lazard)

This fund, actively managed, aims to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of companies located throughout the world, including emerging markets. The fund manager relies on a rigorous fundamental analysis and favours a bottom-up investment strategy that focuses on the financial profitability of corporations, as well as on its sustainability and its impact on the corporations’ valuation.

On January 28, 2022, DGAM announced that François Panneton has been appointed Director of Quantitative Strategies. François is now leading the team responsible for the development and management of systematic mandates, quantitative research and financial modelling for all asset classes.

On February 3, 2022, Impax announced the hiring of Charles French, Co-Senior Director of Investments, to consolidate the duties of the director of investments function. Charles will take over the strategic direction of the Listed Actions team and will also be responsible for the improvement of the team’s operational efficiency and capabilities. He will join Impax in June 2022.

On February 4, 2022, Fidelity announced changes to the Fidelity ClearPath and Fidelity ClearPath Institutional series. These changes will occur over the next 2 quarters. Three new components will be added to the portfolios: Long-Term Canadian Government Bonds, Global Developed Markets Sovereign Bonds and Global Inflation-Linked Bonds. The addition of these 3 bonds will result in a downward allocation of the Canadian Real Return Bonds, Canadian Investment Grade Bonds and Canadian Money Market Fund.

On February 22, 2022, Fiera announced that Richard Dansereau has decided to step down from his role as President and Global Head of Real Estate of Fiera Real Estate. John Valentini, President and CEO of Fiera Private Alternative Investments, will replace Richard on an interim basis as Global Head of Real Estate. John will work in close collaboration with Blair McCreadie, Head of Canadian Real Estate.