In the best interest of our contract owners, Desjardins Financial Security Life Assurance Company (DFS) periodically reviews its investment and insurance products in order to adapt them to the realities of our constantly evolving markets. Accordingly, DFS has decided to make changes to the Helios2 Contract and the DFS Guaranteed Investment Funds lineup.
- Four funds added (Helios and Helios2 only)
- Four funds closed to additional deposits and switches
- Fee options closed to additional deposits
- Revised management fees for four funds (Helios and Helios2 only)
- Other changes
Changes to the GIF lineup
1. Funds added
Four new funds will be available in the Helios2 and Helios Contracts starting on November 28, 2022.
| Fund category | Fund name |
|---|
| Investment solutions | DFS GIF – 100% Equity |
| Individual funds – Balanced and asset allocation | DFS GIF – Global Balanced – Desjardins SocieTerra
DFS GIF – Global Balanced Growth – Desjardins |
| Individual funds – Foreign equity | DFS GIF – Global Equity Growth – Desjardins |
For more details, please refer to the
Questions and answers document.
2. Four funds closed to additional Deposits and switches
Effective November 25, 2022, four Funds will no longer be available for additional deposits and switches.
| Fund name | Helios2 | Helios | Millennia III – New Era (Series 3) | Millennia – Classic |
|---|
| DFS GIF – Growth and Income – NEI | X | X | X | |
| DFS GIF – Growth – NEI Select | X | X | X | |
| DFS GIF – Canadian Dividend – NEI | X | X | | |
| DFS GIF – Canadian Small Cap Equity – NEI | X | X | X | X |
For more details, please refer to the
Questions and answers document.
3. Fee Options closed to additional Deposits
As of November 25, 2022, in accordance with the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators and Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations' recommendation, Low load and Deferred sales charge fee options will no longer be available for additional deposits.
However, switches from one fund to another of units that will be under these fee options on the closing date will still be permitted as long as they have the same fee option (transfers between different fee options, from B to C for example, are not allowed). If clients made deposits with any of these fee options before 4 p.m. ET on November 25, this fee option will still apply to their units and charges will still apply if they make withdrawals in the future depending on the amount of time that has passed since each deposit was made.
If, on the closing date, your client has a Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) agreement with one of the closing fee options, these deposits will be made with the Negotiable Fee Option or No Load Fee (depending on the contract owned) from now on.
| Contract | Fee option closed | Alternative option |
|---|
| Helios (Series 5) |
Option B
Low load (3 years)
Option C
Back end load (6 years) |
Option A
Negotiable fee option |
| Helios2 (Series 6 and 8) |
Option B
Low load sales charge (3 years)
Option C
Deferred sales charge (7 years) |
Option A
No load |
Millennia III – First Edition (Series 1)
Millennia III – New Era (Series 1) | Back end load (5 years) | Negotiable fee option |
| Millennia III – Classic (Series 3) | Back end load (7 years) | Negotiable fee option |
| Millennia III – New Era (Series 3) | B – Low load (3 years)
C – Back end load (5 years) | A - Negotiable fee option |
For more details, please refer to the
Questions and answers document.
4. Revised management fees
We have revised the management fees applicable to four funds under the Helios2 contract and Helios contract in order to be more competitive in the industry. These changes will take effect on November 28, 2022.
| Current fund name | Decrease | New Series 5
MER | New Series 6
MER | New Series 7
MER | New Series 8
MER |
|---|
| DFS GIF – Canadian Balanced – CI Signature | - 0.20% | 2.77% | 2.47% | 1.91% | 2.12% |
| DFS GIF – Income and Growth – CI Signature | - 0.15% | 2.87% | 2.56% | 2.02% | 2.24% |
| DFS GIF – Asset Allocation – Cambridge | - 0.10% | 2.77% | 2.48% | 1.96% | 2.14% |
| DFS GIF – Global Dividend – Desjardins | - 0.05% | 2.75% | 2.67% | 2.17% | 2.35% |
For more details, please refer to the
Questions and answers document.
5. Other changes
Name change of four existing funds starting on November 28, 2022 to align with the names of their underlying funds.
| Current name | New name |
|---|
| DFS GIF – Growth – NEI Select | DFS GIF – Growth RS – NEI Select |
| DFS GIF – Canadian Balanced – CI Signature | DFS GIF – Canadian Balanced – CI |
| DFS GIF – Income and growth – CI Signature | DFS GIF – Canadian Income and Growth – CI |
| DFS GIF – Asset Allocation – Cambridge | DFS GIF – Canadian Asset Allocation – CI |
Change to the investment objective of DFS GIF – Growth – NEI Select fund due to a change in the investment objective of its underlying fund.
For more details, please refer to the
Questions and answers document.
Information for advisors
You can review the Advance Notices of Change to learn more about these changes. Please read the
Questions and answers document, which contains key information on the topic.
Client communications
All contract owners will be sent an Advance Notice of Change, which will be mailed out starting August 29, 2022:
| Contract | Advance Notice item # | Expected mailing date |
|---|
| Helios2 | 22056E/F | Starting September 13, 2022 |
| Helios | 22057E/F |
| Millennia III – New Era (Series 3) | 22058E/F |
| Millennia III – First Edition and Millennia III – New Era (Series 1) | 22059E/F |
| Millennia III – Classic | 22060E/F | À partir du 29 août 2022 |
Please note that the Fund Facts for the new funds being added in November 2022 will not be included in the Advance Notices of Change.
PDF versions will be available at the end of August.
| Contract | Fund Facts item # |
|---|
| Helios2 Series 6-8 | 22056E02 (2022-11) - Series 6-8 |
| Helios2 Series 7 | 22056E02 (2022-11) - Series 7 |
| Helios Series 5 | 22057E02 (2022-11) - Series 5 |
A PDF version of these Advance Notices and Fund Facts (available at the end of August) can be found in the
Helios2 Contract Sales material section. For the other contracts, they can be viewed under
Discontinued products (password required). They will be also available on the
Desjardins Insurance website at the end of August.
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