News from Desjardins Insurance

In this issue:

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PRICING

NEW! PARTICIPATING WHOLE LIFE 10 PAY ON NOVEMBER 28 AND DIVIDEND SCALE RATE INCREASE

Participating whole life insurance products are a hit with clients! You told us they wanted to be able to pay up their insurance more quickly, and we listened. We’re proud to launch participating whole life insurance payable in 10 years on November 28!

A comprehensive and flexible whole life insurance line

2 products	3 payment periods	5 dividend options
Accelerated Growth Estate Enhancer	10 years – New! 20 years To age 100	Paid-up additions (PUAs) Enhanced insurance Annual premium reduction Cash payment Dividends on deposit

Dividend scale interest rate increasing to 5.75%

Our dividend scale interest rate is going from 5% to 5.75% on January 1, 2021!

The new rate will apply to new sales starting November 28, 2020!

It’ll also apply to Accelerated Growth and Estate Enhancer products purchased after August 2017, starting January 1, 2021. Please note that we’ll be able to produce new illustrations for these cases in the first quarter of 2021. We’ll send instructions when we’re ready.

Alternate scenarios added to the Insurance Illustration

We’re adding 4 alternate scenarios to help you better demonstrate the effects of a dividend scale interest rate increase. Choose one to present alongside the 2 required scenarios.

Required scenarios	Alternate scenarios – New! (Choose 1)
Current dividend scenario Reduced dividend scenario (-1%)	Alternate dividend scenario (+0.5%) Alternate dividend scenario (-0.5%) Alternate dividend scenario (-1.5%) Alternate dividend scenario (-2%)

Transparent investment strategy

Here’s an overview of our investment strategy, which will also be included in the latest version of the Stable returns thanks to expertise and diversification – 17086E brochure.

Asset classes	Target	Min.	Max.
Fixed income	60%
Cash and short-term investments	0%	0%	10%
Bonds	29.5%	20%	50%
• Government bonds	7%
• Corporate bonds	22.5%
Commercial mortgages	24.5%	10%	35%
Preferred shares	6%	0%	10%
Variable income	40%
Common shares	10%	5%	30%
Alternative investments	30%	10%	40%
• Real estate	9%	5%	25%
• Private equity and infrastructure	16%	5%	25%
• Specialized strategies	5%	0%	10%
Total	100%

Market ranking

Estate Enhancer

Total death benefit at age 80 – Paid-up additions (PUA) option

Profile – Issue age	Payment period
Profile – Issue age	10 years	20 years	To age 100
FNS $250,000 – 0 years	3rd	4th	4th
FNS $250,000 – 40 years	4th	3rd	3rd
MNS $250,000 – 0 years	3rd	3rd	2nd
MNS $250,000 – 40 years	4th	4th	4th

Number of companies on the market	7	8	8

Sales materials

Updated product documents will be available on Webi on Monday November 30, 2020.

Training

Learn more about participating life insurance and hone your skills to offer clients the right products and services.

Webinar
Enhancements with PAR Life & CI: Increase your market reach

Click on the link to download the webinar invitation and add it to your calendar.

Date	Time	Language
Wednesday, December 2, 2020	12:30 p.m. (ET)	English

Commission rate – Par life 10

Year	Rate
1	35%
2-5	4%
6-10	2%

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PRICING

GOOD NEWS: LOWER CRITICAL ILLNESS INSURANCE PREMIUMS STARTING NOVEMBER 28

We're pleased to announce lower premiums for 3 of our term critical illness insurance products starting November 28.

In addition to offering the most comprehensive coverage—including all types of cancer and exclusive cardiovascular procedures—our Health Priorities products will be even more competitive.

Our critical illness insurance products also qualify for a multi-coverage discount.

Reduced rates

Product	Average reduction	Female NS age 40 $50,000 (without ROPD)	Male NS age 40 50,000 (without ROPD)
Health Priorities – Term 10	-6%	-9%	-10%
Health Priorities – Term 20	-4%	-5%	-4%
Health Priorities – Term to 65	-1%	-3%	-3%

Market positions

Without refund of premiums upon death (ROPD)

Female NS, age 40	$50,000	$100,000	$250,000
Term 10	1st	3rd	3rd
Term 20	1st	3rd	3rd
Term to 65	1st	2nd	3rd

Male NS, age 40	$50,000	$100,000	$250,000
Term 10	1st	2nd	2nd
Term 20	1st	3rd	3rd
Term to 65	1st	1st	2nd

Transition rules

Status	Which rate applies?
Application is still under review when the new rate takes effect	The new rate, unless you specify otherwise If needed, you’ll receive a new illustration request in the Pending Business tool
Application arrives at head office after 11:59 p.m. (ET) on November 27, 2020	The new rate (no exceptions)
Reopened application that was previously cancelled, declined or deferred	The rate in effect when the application is reopened
Contract settled before November 28, 2020	The old rate. No requests for rate changes will be accepted

Need to use a paper application?

We strongly recommend scanning your applications and emailing themprovided you use a secure email address .

DESJARDINS INSURANCE

2020 YEAR-END HOUSEKEEPING NOTES

The year-end closing date for our administrative systems is December 18, 2020. To help you plan your year-end activities, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Opening hours (ET) for our client relation centres

Date	Insurance 1‑800‑278‑0669	Investments 1‑877‑647‑5435	Contract and financial operations management 1‑888‑480‑5387	Merchandising Technology 1‑888‑647‑5455
Monday, December 21	8 a.m. to 7 p.m.	8 a.m. to 5 p.m.	8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.	8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesday, December 22	8 a.m. to 7 p.m.	8 a.m. to 5 p.m.	8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.	8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday, December 23	8 a.m. to 7 p.m.	8 a.m. to 5 p.m.	8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.	8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday, December 24	9 a.m. to 1 p.m.	8 a.m. to 4 p.m.	9 a.m. to 2 p.m.	8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday, December 25	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed
Monday, December 28	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed
Tuesday, December 29	8 a.m. to 7 p.m.	8 a.m. to 5 p.m.	8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.	8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday, December 30	8 a.m. to 7 p.m.	8 a.m. to 5 p.m.	8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.	8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday, December 31	9 a.m. to 1 p.m.	8 a.m. to 4 p.m.	9 a.m. to 2 p.m.	8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday, January 1	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed
Monday, January 4	Closed	10 a.m. to 4 p.m.	Closed	10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Insurance policy administration

Direct withdrawals
Direct withdrawals for 2020 cannot be stopped starting December 15, 2020.

Disbursements
Cheques and direct deposits made after December 18, 2020, will be dated 2021.

Guaranteed investment funds and Annuities

Please note that the information pertaining to year-end processing for the current year has been added to the Year-End Processing 2020 section.

New Business and Underwriting

For your new business to be counted for 2020, we will do everything we can to enter applications received up to December 15, 2020, while prioritizing cases for the benefit of your clients.

Due to COVID-19, we anticipate additional delays to obtain medical requirements. We recommend that you prioritize meetings with your clients for whom the requirements will be necessary (50 years of age or older, insurance amount of more than $1 million, etc.).

If the illustration shows any medical requirements, submit the DSign electronic application by Friday, November 20, 2020.
Paper applications should be fully complete and received no later than Friday, November 20, 2020.
Non-medical electronic applications that can potentially be issued via Point of Sale should be submitted by Friday, November 27, 2020.

These dates are subject to change according to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Compensation

Here is the schedule for the upcoming pays:

Pay of	Deposit dates (into representatives’ accounts)
December 10, 2020	December 16, 2020
December 18, 2020	December 24, 2020
December 23, 2020	December 30, 2020
December 30, 2020	January 7, 2021
January 7, 2021	January 13, 2021

INVESTMENTS

MODIFICATION OF THE ADVANCE NOTICE OF CHANGE ‒ CLOSING OF 6 GUARANTEED INVESTMENT FUNDS (GIFS) POSTPONED

Last August, Desjardins Insurance announced its intention to permanently close 6 Guaranteed Investment Funds (GIFs) in 2022.

However, due to concerns shared by advisors, we have decided to postpone the final closure of these GIFs to a later date. With the exception of this amendment, the content of the advance notices of change sent to clients remains the same…

TOOLS

Tools

ILLUSTRATION TOOL—DESKTOP MODE ON THE WAY OUT

Very few people use the Illustration tool in desktop mode, which is why we’ve decided to remove this feature to focus our efforts on technology updates that will benefit everyone.

The desktop mode of the Illustration tool will cease to be available on November 28, 2020.

Will I be able to access illustrations saved locally after November 27?

No. If you’ve used the desktop mode to create illustrations since July 5, 2020, please synchronize the desktop version with the online tool to make sure they’re saved.

TOOLS

Tools

NOVEMBER 28: DSIGN ELECTRONIC APPLICATION AND ILLUSTRATION SOFTWARE WILL BE TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE

We’ll be working from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (ET) to integrate the lower premium rates for critical illness insurance and the participating whole life 10 pay products.

Alternative available during the update

Instead of the electronic application, you can use the paper form.

We strongly recommend scanning your applications and emailing them provided you use a secure email address (for example, one that ends with @dfsin.ca or @desjardins.com).

TOOLS

Tools

ELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED NOVEMBER 8 TO 11: DISPLAY ISSUE

From November 8 to 11, a technical issue corrupted some special and accented characters in e-apps that were submitted.

You may have noticed that upon opening the completed application, some words contained garbled characters.

Example

Insured’s name: Dorimène Desjardins

Insured's name: Dorimène Desjardins

The fix

The issue for electronic applications has been resolved as of November 12. New applications and applications that were started during this period are displaying text correctly.

We’re working on a fix for the submitted applications affected by this issue. We’re confident that we’ll be able to print a normal version of these applications when the contracts are issued.