DC Plan 2025

DC Plan Summit

Feb. 26-28, 2025 | Omni Mont-Royal Hotel, Montreal *NEW LOCATION*

February 26, 2025

6:00 – 9:00 PM:

Opening cocktail and dinner reception (L’Atrium and Pierre de Coubertin)

February 27, 2025

7:00 – 7:30 AM:

Speaker rehearsal (Saisons A&B)

7:30 – 8:30 AM:

Breakfast (Pierre de Coubertin)

8:30 – 9:00 AM:

Opening remarks and interactive activity (Saisons A&B)

9:00 – 10:00 AM:

Navigating geopolitical challenges: The future of finance and society

As the founder and chairman of Signum Global Advisors, Charles Myers is a leading expert in geopolitical and macro risk as it relates to financial markets, corporations and the general public. Drawing on Myers’ experience and network within Washington, D.C. and beyond, this session will unpack some of the key issues facing North America and the world today, including climate and infrastructure, inequality and inclusion as well as global trade and security.

Speaker:

Charles Myers, chairman, Signum Global Advisors

10:00 – 10:30 AM:

From Y2K to gen Z: 25 years in group retirement savings

The last 25 years have been transformative for group retirement savings plans — and no one has experienced the impact of change more personally than the plan member. To showcase the change, this session will follow a plan member launching her career at the dawn of the new millennium. Along the way, she navigates changes to her defined contribution plan, witnesses colleagues delaying retirement and faces her own reckoning with retirement readiness. From the plan member’s first benefits guide on a CD-ROM to managing everything on a mobile app, her life, career and retirement planning journey reflect industry evolution of the past quarter century. The session will uncover lessons and look ahead to the quickly evolving plan member experience of the future.

Speaker:

Chris Walker, regional vice-president, business development, investment strategy, Desjardins Insurance

10:30 – 11:00 AM:

Networking break (Saisons Foyer)

11:00 – 11:30 AM:

Gen Z’s existential dread: Why we need to understand the modern mindset for plan member engagement strategies 

What is existential risk and why is it on everyone’s mind? How can early-career employees think about the future when they are consumed with the broad challenges of today? This isn't just workplace drama or generational anxiety, it poses a fundamental challenge to how employers structure retirement and savings plans and communicate their benefits. An increased sense of risk could impact financial outcomes with decreased plan participation, reduced focus on long-term planning and retention of talent. This session will take a deep dive into the research and how behavioural economics can chart the path forward in these uncertain times.

Speakers:

Kate Nazar, vice-president, group retirement services, Canada Life

Kelly Peters, behavioural economics leader, partner, Deloitte

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM:

Revolutionizing retirement income solutions for Canadian retirees

Retirement income planning is one of the most pressing challenges facing Canadians and the pension industry. With a staggering third of Canadians struggling to plan for their golden years and five million set to turn 65 this decade, the time to act is now. Alongside engagement and advice throughout DC plan members’ retirement years, a target-age solution has become another tool on the shelf to help Canadians fill an important gap in the decumulation landscape.

Speaker:

Yashar Zarrabian, regional vice-president, Quebec, Sun Life Financial

12:00 – 1:00 PM:

Lunch (Pierre de Coubertin)

1:00 – 1:30 PM:

Refreshing CAPSA’s capital accumulation plans guideline

Originally issued in 2004, the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities’ capital accumulation plans guideline has stood the test of time. But it was time for a refresh!  Since 2019, CAPSA has been leading a review and update of the CAP guidelines. The association has been working with representatives from both the Canadian Securities Administrators and the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators in this work to ensure the broad scope and applicability of the original guideline remains. The session will cover how the guideline has evolved and how regulators will be using it.

Speaker:

Leah Fichter, vice-chair, the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities, deputy superintendent of pensions, executive director, pensions division, Financial Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan

1:30 – 2:00 PM:

Global portfolios, Canadian perspectives

Home country bias in investment portfolios has been a topic of debate for decades, but the conversation has been reignited over the last few years. This session will provide fresh perspectives on this multi-faceted topic, expanding on what makes a Canadian plan member unique and how that influences portfolio construction.

Speaker:

Jon Knowles, institutional portfolio manager in global asset allocation, Fidelity Investments

2:00 – 2:30 PM:

Engagement (r)evolution: Boosting retirement outcomes

Personalization, driven by advanced marketing technology and innovative content strategies, can significantly enhance member engagement and outcomes in group retirement plans. This session will provide practical insights on how to leverage technology to enhance member engagement and strategies for evolving governance in the era of personalization.

Speaker:

Marc-Antoine Morin, assistant vice-president, group retirement, Manulife

2:30 – 3:00 PM:

Networking break (Saisons Foyer)

3:00 – 3:30 PM:

A 360-degree view of the U.S. DC pension landscape

This session will explore findings from T. Rowe Price’s U.S. DC consultant study that can help Canadian retirement professionals navigate the diverse needs of plan members. It will share new insights on DC plan investment trends, target-date solutions, retirement income and the continued focus on financial wellness.

Speaker:

Jessica Sclafani, global retirement strategist, T. Rowe Price

3:30 – 4:00 PM:

Case study: State-facilitated retirement programs and auto-enrolment in the U.S.

Over the past seven years, the U.S. has seen growing interest in state-facilitated retirement programs as states attempt to address the looming retirement savings crisis facing their residents, taxpayers and local governments. This session will explore how state policies and state-facilitated retirement programs are increasing access to workplace retirement savings options to help more workers prepare for a retirement with dignity. Attendees will learn about Illinois’ Secure Choice retirement savings program, which is representative of the automatic enrolment individual retirement account programs that incorporate behavioural economics in program design to help improve participation and outcomes.

Speaker:

Michael Frerichs, state treasurer, Illinois Treasurer’s Office

4:00 – 4:30 PM:

Speaker rehearsal (Saisons A&B)

6:00 – 9:30 PM:

Cocktail reception and dinner (Ferreira Café)

9:30 – 11:00 PM:

Games night and Y2K dance party (L’Atrium)

February 28, 2025

7:30 – 8:30 AM:

Breakfast (Pierre de Coubertin)

8:00 – 8:20 AM:

Au-delà de la conformité : une approche pragmatique pour la gouvernance des régimes d’épargne et des régimes CD (Saisons A&B)

Cette présentation analysera les dernières lignes directrices de l’ACOR, en mettant l'accent sur une approche pragmatique des cadres de la gouvernance adaptés aux régimes à cotisations déterminées et aux régimes d’épargne. Cette séance se concentra sur les cadres de gouvernance pratiques, conçus pour une conformité aux lignes directrices no 3 et no 10 de l’ACOR.

Suivre ces lignes directrices va au-delà de la simple conformité. C’est l’occasion pour les organisations de renforcer leur engagement en faveur du bien-être financier des membres de leur personnel et de leurs habitudes d’épargne. Cette séance comprendra des informations pratiques sur la rationalisation de la gouvernance, le renforcement de la mobilisation et mettra en valeur l’engagement en matière de performance humaine et financière.

Conférencière :

Marianne Assaf, chef de pratique, régime d’épargne, partenaire de retraite et épargne, Normandin Beaudry

8:30 – 9:30 AM:

Economic outlook 2024/25: The big easy (Saisons A&B)

The economic focus has shifted from managing inflation to managing growth; policy-makers, especially in the U.S., are close to achieving that goal. Canada’s economy is sluggish, but inflation has slid below the two per cent target as the Bank of Canada has been the most aggressive of the G10 central banks to cut rates. The U.S. economy, however, has been remarkably resilient and cooler inflation gave the Federal Reserve the comfort to finally start easing. Still, there are plenty of risks in the horizon, beyond the U.S. election, including further trade wars, the threat of retaliatory tariffs and geopolitics.

Speaker:

Douglas Porter, chief economist and managing director, BMO Financial Group

9:30 – 10:00 AM:

The decumulation dilemma

Decumulation is a complex problem – arguably harder than accumulation, where plan members have a common goal: save and invest for retirement. Once in the decumulation phase, each plan member’s needs, wants and situations vary. At the core of solving the dilemma is a decumulation ecosystem that includes investment vehicles with the highest risk-adjusted returns.

Speaker:

Nicole Lomax, vice-president, portfolio manager, institutional asset allocation, TD Asset Management Inc.

10:00 – 10:30 AM:

Networking break (Saisons Foyer)

10:30 – 11:00 AM: 

The past, present and future use of default investments in U.S. DC plans

This session will delve into the valuable lessons learned from defaulting employees into target-date funds.  It will discuss the current challenges faced by the industry, explore potential developments on the horizon and share insights from American Century Investments' 2024 survey of 1,500 employees and 500 employers providing a comprehensive view of the evolving landscape.

Speaker:

Glenn Dial, vice-president, retirement thought leadership, research, American Century Investments

This session has been made possible by CIBC Asset Management.

11:00 – 11:30 AM:

Bell Canada’s DC journey

Over the last 20 years, Bell Canada’s DC plan has evolved significantly as it faced the changes and developments in Canada’s DC pension industry. This session will discuss the company’s approach to decumulation, the introduction of additional flexibility, its progress with default investment options and what it sees for its DC plan’s future.

Speaker:

Robert Marchessault, director, pension and benefits, Bell Canada

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM:

Panel: Looking back and ahead: 25 years of DC pensions 

The Canadian defined contribution pension industry has changed significantly over the past 25 years, including rounds of legislative reforms, a growing focus on automatic features and member engagement and the rise of new decumulation solutions. At the 25th anniversary of the DC Plan Summit, three veteran pension professionals will discuss how things have changed and the work the industry still needs to tackle to ensure an expanding cohort of DC plan members are prepared for retirement.

Panellists:

Wendy Mizuno, senior vice-president, total rewards, Loblaw Companies Ltd.

Blair Richards, chief investment officer, Halifax Port ILA/HEA

Basil Rowe, vice-president, total rewards, Sobeys Inc.

Moderator:

Jennifer Paterson, editor, Benefits Canada

12:00 – 1:00 PM: 

Closing lunch (Pierre de Coubertin)

INTERESTED IN SPONSORING?

Contact Francesca Allman or  Robert Martins about availability.

SPONSORS
SUPPORTING SPONSORS
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AGENDA?

Please email Jada Lowe