CORONAVIRUS NOTICE #7

Together, we have achieved what, just a few weeks ago, would have been unthinkable. I would like to thank you and congratulate you all on getting through this first week of remote work, in full compliance of the best practices of our authorities.

This afternoon, many of you participated in one of the two videoconferences. As mentioned during these calls, we have had our share of crises over our 27 years of history. We lived through the Quebec ice storm, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks (with stock markets closed for a few days), and the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

Throughout all these challenges, we have made it through and become better and stronger. You have been careful in your planning and your investment advice, just as PEAK has been conservative in its own financial planning.

As a result, we are entering this market drop with a strong financial position. With your help, we will explore new ways to remain fiscally responsible, while providing you the services you need.

Please take a minute to review the announcements and reminders from our employees below. You can also find all the announcements since the beginning of the crisis by clicking on the COVID-19 page button at the end of this communication. We do not expect to issue new communications until Monday.

This weekend, of course, I encourage you to continue to observe the directives of isolation and social distancing, but also to take time to rest and to communicate (virtually if necessary) with your loved ones and families.

Robert Frances
President and CEO

OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Below you will find important information on several topics. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

NEW 2020 MINIMUM RRIF PAYOUTS

Following the Economic Intervention Plan of Canada to respond to COVID-19 put in place by the Canadian Minister of Finance, we would like to advise you that there have been changes made to the minimum RRIF/LIF payouts for 2020.

"Income Support for individuals who need it the most:

Reducing required minimum withdrawals from Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) by 25% for 2020, in recognition of volatile market conditions and their impact on many seniors’ retirement savings. This will provide flexibility to seniors that are concerned that they may be required to liquidate their RRIF assets to meet minimum withdrawal requirements. Similar rules would apply to individuals receiving variable benefit payments under a defined contribution Registered Pension Plan.”

PEAK will be monitoring this change closely and will provide additional guidance on how to take advantage of this new measure once further details are provided by the government.

DUPLICATES OF 2019 TAX RECEIPTS

The client tax receipts produced for nominee accounts are available for reprinting on the MyPEAKonline portal for clients and advisors in the tax forms section. We invite you to prioritize this resource to obtain any duplicates requested by your clients.

You may reprint and mail, or send the PDF to your clients, keeping in mind the necessity to only send confidential client information electronically by the PEAK Vault.

VERIFICATION OF TRANSACTIONS AND TRANSFERS

We request your cooperation in making sure to first review the transactions that you have submitted for manual treatment in the platform that you use, before contacting Client Services for a follow-up.

We suggest that you also review the notes available at the plan and client level in the platform for all follow-ups on transfers.

COMPLIANCE DEPARTMENT

DIRECT PHONE ACCESS

We wish to inform you that the compliance team can be reached as usual through the PEAK telephone system. Employees have access to their phone extension from home.

• Compliance team: 1-877-844-4481, option 6

COMPLIANCE REMINDER

DISCRETIONARY TRANSACTIONS

Faced with an uncertain market, we remind you that it is important not to deviate from your elaborate financial plans for your clients.

As you know, unless you are registered as a portfolio manager and have a discretionary trading mandate with your clients, we remind you that all transactions must be duly discussed and authorized by each client and documented in the notes in the client file.

As such, even if you believe to act in the best interest of your client, discretionary transactions are strictly prohibited.

FINANCE DEPARTMENT

USE OF EFTs AND DEPOSITS IN OUR TRUST ACCOUNTS

We encourage all advisors to do EFTs (“Electronic funds transfer”) or bill payment during this period of social distancing. Cheques will be converted to One-Time PACs.

As for the process of reconciling all deposits in our trust account, we will be contacting you over the next few days to request certain backups.

We understand that some backups may have already been sent to us, however, with the change in our work environment there is some backup that is more difficult for us to find and retrieve in the past.

We assure you that our teams are continuing to work hard to ensure all outstanding deposits are cleared as soon as possible. We thank you again for your help and cooperation.

PEAK INSURANCE SERVICES

MESSAGE TO ADVISORS DEALING WITH US

As with all the employees of PEAK Financial Group, all the necessary actions have been put in place to allow the operations of AgenZ Group to continue normally despite the turbulence.

• Employees are able to work offsite.
• Precautions/Measures to protect our employees have been put in place to maintain our operations and the quality of service.

Under the circumstances, even if we can be reached by phone, we would appreciate it if you could communicate with us by email.

NEW BUSINESS

We ask for your cooperation to avoid delays in processing your business.

Please use the electronic application system or send a copy of the application by email, and keep a copy of the application for your records.

For the first premium, refer to the application to choose the bank withdrawal option.

Please find the email addresses below to reach us.

• Application for individual insurance: [email protected]
• Segregated fund transaction: [email protected]

DELIVERY REQUIREMENTS

We invite you to proceed by sending us the documents in PDF format by email, using the usual address: [email protected].

CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUESTS FOR IN-FORCE

You can always send us your documents in PDF format by email at the address [email protected].

CORONAVIRUS SUMMARY PAGE

In order to consolidate all PEAK information regarding the Coronavirus, we have created a temporary Web page.

COVID-19 page