September 2023 Edition

In a world facing numerous environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, interest in responsible investment (RI) solutions continues to grow.

Responsible investment offers a significant return potential and opportunities for sustainable growth, with benefits for society and the planet. What’s more, this approach attracts a skilled workforce sensitive to like-minded companies.

Why wait? Add responsible investment options to your plan now.

Read the full article Responsible investment: 3 good reasons to include it in a group retirement savings plan External link. Opens in a new window. in which our experts give their views.

On October 3, 2023, your plan members will receive an email inviting them to enter the contest. All they have to do is click the I’m in! button in the email. They’ll then be prompted to play the fun and informative “Winning recipe” game to help them adopt healthy habits and get into financial shape.

Two reminder emails are scheduled for November 7 and December 1, 2023, for plan members who didn’t open the initial email or who changed or added their email address during the contest period.

The contest ends on December 3, 2023.

Draw and prizes

The draw for the 5 prizes of $1,000 will be held on December 14, 2023. The winners can have the money paid out to them directly or deposited into their Group retirement savings plan. If they select a registered plan, they must ensure there’s sufficient contribution room.

Print out these posters or upload them to your intranet to promote the contest to your employees:

Certain conditions may apply. To learn more, read the full contest rules (PDF,201 KB) Opens in a new window..

Please disregard this article if your plan has immediate vesting of employer contributions.

What’s the vesting of employer contributions?

Vesting can be used as a strategy to retain employees. It’s subject to plan membership or employment requirements (as defined by plan rules) up to a maximum of 24 months. Employees are encouraged to remain in employment, failing which they forfeit their employer contributions.

What happens if an employee leaves before employer contributions are vested?

If you offer a deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP) or a defined contribution (DC) pension plan without immediate vesting, non-vested employer contributions are returned to you if you haven’t provided us with any instructions. The benefits forfeited in a given year must be used by December 31 of the following year. This means that the amounts forfeited in 2022 must be used by December 31, 2023.

How to use forfeited benefits

Depending on your plan rules, you can:

• Receive forfeited amounts in cash or by bank transfer, less applicable taxes
• Distribute the unused benefits to your plan members

If you choose the latter option, you must inform Desjardins how you would like the unused benefits to be distributed between plan members.

Another option is available if you offer a DC plan:

• Pay the administrative fees, the investment fees and any other fees incurred in relation to the plan

If you haven’t already done so, please contact your client relationship manager or call Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762 to let us know what you would like to do with these forfeited benefits.

Has your team changed?

We need accurate, up-to-date information on file. That’s why the authorized signing officer, such as the plan sponsor or the person administering the plan, must let us know about any changes to roles or contact information of:

• People who have access to the information of the plan(s) you administer or plan members’ personal information
• New employees who will be sharing roles or taking over as plan administrator, group manager or remittance manager

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

To add a new person who needs 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) Opens in a new window. form and return it to your Desjardins Insurance plan administrator or Plan Sponsor Services through your account at dfs.ca/plansponsor under File transfer or by email to grs_plansponsor@dfs.ca.

Important: Your email will need to be secured as it contains personal information.

Did you know?

Canadian laws on the protection of personal information require Desjardins Insurance to protect the confidentiality of any personal information collected 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. It’s important for us to know who has the right to access certain plan information within the scope of their duties.

Your implication

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.

In the coming quarters, Fidelity will be adding alternative asset classes to the Fidelity ClearPath^{®[ Note 1 ]}. Institutional Funds, a target date fund series available on our Desjardins Insurance group retirement savings platform. The fund manager expects to gradually build its position in alternative asset classes over the next several years, with a total strategic exposure remaining below 10% of each fund. The actual allocation in alternatives is expected to vary over time relative to this target based on active asset allocation views, client cash flows, market performance and liquidity dynamics.

Fidelity plans to use an open architecture model within their alternatives sleeve, which should allow them to source strong managers in various alternative asset classes, regardless of whether they’re external or internal to the global Fidelity Investments organization.

This change won’t have any impact on the funds’ investment objective or investment fee charged directly by Desjardins Insurance. The investment vehicles used to access alternative asset classes will, however, charge an embedded investment fee that will reduce their gross returns.

About the Fidelity ClearPath^® Institutional Funds

This target date solution combines active and index underlying strategies, because it provides the potential for excess return through active management while leveraging index building blocks where markets may be more efficient. The funds’ asset allocation changes based on a predetermined glidepath designed to grow more conservative over time, until the target retirement date, and during a period of approximately 20 years after this date.

For more information about this change, don’t hesitate to contact your client relationship manager.