Multi-employer Pension Plan

What is a Multi-employer Pension Plan?

FSRA defines MEPPs (or multi-employer pension plans) as pension plans with more than one unrelated employer contributing to and participating in the same pension plan. MEPPs can be DB (defined benefit pension plans) or DC (defined contribution plans). They can also be a combination of both.

Blue Pier offers a defined contribution (DC-only) “independent” MEPP (iMEPP) open to every Canadian employer, regardless of size. Blue Pier is Canada’s first-ever pension plan as a service.

What Does an iMEPP Look Like?

The main features of an iMEPP like Blue Pier include:

Independent of participating employers, i.e. not dependent on any one employer group or union
An independent board of trustees acts as the plan administrator
Unrelated participating employers can design and deliver their own custom workplace pension programs that are fully outsourced and subscription-based (pension plan as a service)
Employers retain decision-making power regarding plan eligibility, employee classes, contributions, fees, etc., while outsourcing asset custody, management, regulatory compliance, record‐keeping, etc.
Fast sign-up – usually 8 – 10 weeks
Multi-jurisdictional and bilingual – available to employers in every Canadian province with service in English and French
Lower costs, risks, and workload for both employers/sponsors and employees/members

What Does Blue Pier Offer?

We make it possible for all employers in Canada, including the small ones, to offer pension programs without the high cost, workload, and risks associated with operating single-employer pension plans and group RRSP plans.

Blue Pier works for employers of all sizes. Instead of establishing their own, single-employer plans – which creates risk and work and comes with high administrative costs – employers can choose Blue Pier, which takes care of all aspects of plan governance:

Plan documentation
Selecting and monitoring plan investments
Selecting and monitoring service providers
Member communications
Administration of member events (enrolment, termination, retirement, death, marriage breakdown, etc.)
Asset custody
Audit, legal, and record-keeping (annual statements, etc.)
Regulatory compliance and filings
Retirement benefits payments

Best of all – and unlike many plans – Blue Pier can pay retirement income directly to retired members so they don’t have to manage their own money in retirement.

What is the Employer’s Role?

When you choose Blue Pier, you just need to handle three simple tasks:

Decide which employees participate and what the contributions will be
Withhold and remit contributions
Report pension adjustments (we help with this)

The Blue Pier Advantage

We offer feature-rich, high-performing, and low-cost pension solutions. Our service stands out in many ways. The most notable include:

Blue Pier is Canada’s first-ever Pension Plan as a Service. This means all public and private-sector employers in Canada, of any size, finally have the opportunity to offer first-tier pension programs that help to attract and retain talent without taking on the high cost and risk of pension management.
Outsourced administration: Blue Pier is administered by an expert board of trustees, and the core functions of asset management, record keeping, and asset custody are carried out by well-known institutional partners RBC Global Asset Management, Buck Global, and Canadian Western Trust.
Blue Pier’s Pension Plan as a Service offers many of the advantages of DB pension plans without the financial risks that many DB plans have for both employers and employees. Unlike DB plans, Blue Pier benefits are fully portable, and tax-free.
Employers can focus on their core business. As mentioned above, employers have simple roles. We handle everything else.
Tax efficiency: Compared to traditional plans, Blue Pier’s Pension Plan as a Service reduces payroll and corporate taxes for employers and provides more tax-deductible retirement saving room than is possible with Registered Retirement Saving Plans (RRSPs).
Transparent disclosure: Blue Pier provides transparent, granular disclosure of all costs – and there are no trailer fees.
Lower cost: With Blue Pier, you get a better plan for a lower cost than doing it yourself. Blue Pier leverages financial technology, unmatched expertise, institutional-grade services, and economies of scale to deliver the best possible pension program – just like Canada’s largest pension funds.

Are you searching for a pension plan for your employees? Do you need more information on multi-employer plans? You can contact us to learn more about pensions, what we do, and why we are your best choice. Compare the performance of your current pension plan with ours using our Retirement Plan Comparison Calculator.

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