On June 16th, Industrial Alliance, Manulife Financial, and Standard Life announced that they had all been authorized to offer Voluntary Retirement Savings Plans (VRSPs) in Quebec by the provincial financial services regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). The new plans will become available on July 1st.

Renée Laflamme, vice-president of group savings and retirement at Industrial Alliance says that the insurer's VRSP will be "a simple, flexible, low-cost solution that will allow thousands of Quebecers to ensure themselves a better financial future".

Manulife is delivering its VRSP with a paperless e-application that allows a plan to be set up in less than 20 minutes. “The day to day administration is easy as Manulife tracks and administers plan additions and changes including enrolment, opting out and contribution rate changes,” explains Sue Reibel, vice-president of group benefits and retirement solutions at Manulife.

Standard Life is also confident that it will be able to launch its VRSP on July 1st.  "We've developed a clear and simple tool to help mainly small and medium business employers offer a retirement income solution for their employees," says Philippe Toupin, vice-president of group solutions at Standard Life