EquiNet Equitable Life's advisor site

Site Search

406 results for benefits of seg fund

  1. April 2024 eNews

    In this issue:

    • Competitive – and easy – benefits plans for your small business clients
    • Simplifying benefits enrolment for your clients*
    • NEW time-off tracking tool from HRdownloads*
    • Focus on benefits fraud: Protecting your clients’ plans from abuse*
    *Indicates content that will be shared with your clients who receive these benefits.
     

    Competitive – and easy – benefits plans for your small business clients

    Supporting your small business clients can be a challenge. It’s tough to find a competitively-priced benefits plan with the features they want. Small business owners may also need more of your time – especially if this is their first benefits plan.
     
    That’s why we created Equitable EZBenefits™, a benefits solution designed with the needs of small businesses in mind. With a range of plan design options and valuable embedded services for plan sponsors and plan members, EZBenefits is available for groups with 2 to 25 employees. And to make things simpler for you, we’ve created an Advisor Concierge Service exclusively for EZBenefits. Whether you have a question about submitting a quote request for a new client or an issue with an in-force client, our Concierge Service is your go-to resource for EZBenefits support.  

    Don’t have any EZBenefits clients yet?

    To learn more about EZBenefits, watch our video to learn more or view our brochure.

    Simplifying benefits enrolment for your clients*

    Navigating the benefits enrolment period can be overwhelming – for you, your clients and their employees. It’s difficult to ensure all plan members complete the necessary paperwork before the enrolment deadline. 

    That’s why we offer our secure Online Plan Member Enrolment tool at no extra cost to plan sponsors. The tool simplifies the onboarding process for your clients and their plan members by eliminating the need for paper enrolment forms.
     
    It also makes enrolment faster and easier for your clients by:

    • Reducing errors and rework that can occur due to spelling mistakes or missing information on paper forms; and
    • Sending automatic enrolment reminders to plan members, resulting in fewer late applicants. 
    Our user-friendly interface allows plan members to:
    • Enrol in their benefits plan in just minutes from their computer or mobile device;
    • Easily enter all their enrolment information, including dependent details, banking information for direct deposit of claim payments and details for coordination of benefits; and
    • Designate their beneficiary electronically. 

    Ready to share our Online Plan Enrolment Tool with your clients? Get them started with these helpful resources:

    To learn more about how Online Plan Member Enrolment can simplify benefits enrolment for your clients, contact your Group Account Executive or myFlex Account Executive.

    NEW time-off tracking tool from HRdownloads*

    Through our partnership with HRdownloads®, EZBenefits clients now have complimentary access to Timetastic —a time-off tracking tool that can make it easier to manage employee vacation time, sick days and more.
     
    Timetastic integrates seamlessly with HRdownloads and includes a mobile app to help manage time-off requests from any mobile device.
     
    To see Timetastic in action, check out this demo.
     
    EZBenefits also includes other helpful resources and tools from HRdownloads that can make daily human resources tasks easier, including:
    • A robust, award-winning HR management platform (HRIS);
    • HR documents, templates, compliance resources and articles; and
    • A live HR advice helpline. 
    All of our other Equitable group benefits clients can get a 10% discount on HRdownloads services. Visit the link below or contact your Account Executive for more information.

    Learn more about accessing HRdownloads.

    Focus on benefits fraud: protecting your clients’ plans from abuse*

    According to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), benefits fraud costs insurers and plan sponsors millions of dollars each year, which can lead to increased premium costs.
     

    Resources for your clients

    Both plan administrators and plan members play a role in preventing benefits abuse. So, we’ve compiled some resources you can share with your clients to help them understand what benefits fraud is and how to prevent it: Encourage your clients to educate their plan members about the potential consequences of benefits fraud, including losing their benefits, losing their job and even jail time. 

    How we’re fighting benefits fraud

    Our Investigative Claims Unit (ICU) works to detect and eliminate benefits fraud. We use a variety of investigative techniques, including CLHIA-led industry tools to detect and eliminate benefits fraud: 
    • Joint Provider Fraud Investigation Program: A robust program that allows insurers to collaborate on fraud investigations that affect multiple insurers;
    • Data Pooling Program: An initiative that pools data between insurers and uses advanced artificial intelligence to further identify and reduce benefits fraud; and
    • Provider Alert Registry: A registry that allows insurers to view the results of other insurers’ anti-fraud investigations into specific practitioners. 
    To learn more about benefits fraud and Equitable’s commitment to protecting our benefits plans, please contact your Group Account Executive or myFlex Account Executive.
  2. [pdf] Investment Direction - Pivotal Select
  3. Clarification: Dialogue Virtual Healthcare available to add to your clients' benefits plans We recently announced that we are partnering with Dialogue to offer unlimited and on-demand virtual access to primary healthcare practitioners.
     
    The announcement indicated that Virtual Healthcare is the latest addition to our HealthConnector suite of health and wellness services and is available to add to all Equitable Life benefits plans as of July 1, 2023.
     
    Please note that there is an additional fee to add the service to your clients’ benefits plans. Our original announcement was not clear enough about this.
     
    We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
     
    If you have questions about Virtual Healthcare, of if you would like to add the service to a client’s plan, please contact your Group Account Executive or myFlex Sales Manager.
  4. Launching Equitable Life Savings & Retirement Webinar Series
    In 2021, Equitable Life’s® S&R team will spotlight various aspects of our competitive fund lineup and product offerings. Each webinar in the series will feature a new topic. This series will also give advisors an opportunity to learn more about various products and product features, hear from industry professionals, learn about investment strategies; and so much more.

    This month, Equitable Life welcomes Kimberley West, Senior Client Portfolio Manager for Invesco Canada’s International Companies Fund. West will be joined by Ryan Diamant, Senior Product Manager, Invesco Canada.

    Equitable Life is pleased to highlight access to Invesco Global Companies Fund, Invesco International Companies Fund, and Invesco Europlus Fund in the Pivotal Select™ segregated fund line-up.
     

    Learn More

     
  5. 100 years strong

    As COVID-19 continues, we want to reassure you that Equitable Life remains financially strong and committed to supporting our clients.

    We are financially strong and stable
    Our commitment to your health, wealth and overall well-being remains unchanged. This global pandemic has impacted the way we do business, but we continue to focus on our strategic goals while meeting the needs of Canadians. These three factors speak to our financial strength and stability:

    • Equitable Life has a global credit rating of ‘A’ with a positive trend from DBRS Morningstar in recognition of our ability to adapt to the current business environment and prudent risk profile;
    • We are maintaining our current dividend scale for the period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021; and
    • Our Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) ratio remains well above our goal and the minimum that is required at 152.5% at the close of the first quarter.We pride ourselves on our customer service

    Being recognized for its service culture across all lines of business is a point of pride for a company that includes ‘customer focus’ as one of its three corporate values. In 2019, our dedication to customer service was recognized with these outstanding survey results, proving we have the We have the knowledge, experience and ability to find solutions that work for you:
    • Equitable Life ranked in the top quartile for segregated fund service in 2019 survey of advisors and MGAs1 ;
    • In a 2019 survey of customers from 15 life insurance companies,2 Equitable Life ranked #1 on the Net Promoter Score, a measure used across industries to gauge the loyalty of a firm's customer relationships; and
    • A survey of Group consultants, brokers and third-party administrators 3 ranked Equitable Life in the top two insurers across all categories.
    We have adjusted our business to become digital
    Since the pandemic began, our IT and operations teams have digitally enhanced more than 20 different processes and services to make it easier for us to integrate with our distribution partners in this new reality. Our sales and customer service teams remain open and available to support you and your customers.

    We are here with you and for you
    • To commemorate our 100th Anniversary this year, we donated $4.5 million to purchase and install a new MRI for Grand River Hospital and, as part of our Equitable Gives Back Contest, we donated $50,000 –  $10,000 each – to five charities in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. As well, we are celebrating by randomly selecting policyholders to receive a $100 and three grand prizes. For more information about our celebrations, check out our website at www.equitable100.ca.

      As the global situation continues to evolve, rest assured that Equitable Life is unwavering in our commitments to you and the communities we serve. We are here with you and for you.
    1 Life Ops Consulting Group Distribution Service Satisfaction Surveys 2015-2019, Independent Advisors
    2  LIMRA CxP Customer Experience Benchmarking Program, Life Insurance In-Force Experience 2019
    3 NMG Consulting’s Canadian Group Benefits Survey 2019
     
  6. About
  7. S&R - Tax-Free Savings Account
  8. Equitable Life of Canada Webcast Series Featuring Invesco Canada Equitable Life® continues to spotlight various aspects of our competitive fund lineup and product offerings. This series gives advisors an opportunity to:
    • learn more about products and product features,
    • hear from industry professionals,
    • learn about investment strategies; and so much more.

    In this webcast, we welcome


    Join us to learn the reasons for the growth in ESG, how the following funds are managed and how they can be positioned in a client’s portfolio.
    • Equitable Life S&P/TSX Composite ESG Index Fund Select
    • Equitable Life S&P 500 ESG Index Fund Select 
    • Equitable Life NASDAQ 100 ESG Index Fund Select 

    Learn more

  9. Equitable awarded FundGrade A Fundata recognizes Equitable with Fundata FundGrade A® awards in August and September. The recognized funds are: These funds are part of Equitable’s Pivotal Select™ fund lineup. The FundGrade rating system is a great tool for identifying top-performing funds.

    Mark Schmehl, the portfolio manager of the Fidelity Global Innovators Fund recently joined us for a webcast. If you missed the live webcast, you can watch it on-demand.

    Want to learn more? Contact your Director, Investment Sales today.

    FundGrade A® is used with permission from Fundata Canada Inc., all rights reserved.
    ® and ™ denote registered trademarks of The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada.

    Date posted: October 29, 2024
     
  10. Delay in Pivotal Select segregated fund client statements


    We apologize for the delay in the delivery of our Pivotal Select™ segregated fund client statements. We understand how crucial these statements are for you and clients. We are working hard to resolve the issue. We will post an update on EquiNet® on or before February 7.

    We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time. If you have questions or need further assistance, reach out to our Client Care Team at 1.866.884.7427.  



    Best Regards,

    signature-(1).png

    Cam Crosbie,
    Executive Vice-President, Savings and Retirement Division
    Equitable



    Posted February 4, 2025