WINNIPEG , March 28, 2012 /CNW/ - The Great-West Life Assurance Company commends the Quebec government for its proposed voluntary retirement savings plan (VRSP), the province's version of the federal pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) initiative, now in its third reading in Parliament.

"The VRSP offers a strategic framework for other Canadian provinces as they develop their own PRPP legislation," says Bill Kyle , Executive Vice-President, Wealth Management at Great-West Life. "We encourage all provincial governments in their efforts to help Canadians achieve retirement income adequacy by incorporating universal access, auto enrolment, auto escalation and locking in of contributions."

"The Quebec government's commitment to provide universal pension access to Quebec workers is critically important to the VRSP's success in Quebec ," Kyle says. "This same commitment to universal access will be key to making the PRPP a success in other provinces across Canada ."

VRSPs are expected to benefit Quebec workers by providing a plan structure to pool smaller employers' assets to allow these plans to benefit from economies of scale.

According to the proposal, which must still be passed into law, VRSPs will offer mechanisms to address issues identified as central to the retirement reform debate in Canada without disturbing existing employer-sponsored retirement plans. These mechanisms include:

As a leading provider of group retirement services for Canadians, Great West Life currently provides services to nearly 6,000 companies with five to 99 members. Great-West Life's experience will provide employers with a program that is easy to implement and administer - freeing them to focus on their day-to-day businesses.

About Great-West Life Great-West Life administers over 17,000 group retirement plans and over 1.2 million member accounts, representing nearly 30 per cent of capital accumulation plans (CAPs) in Canada . In the United States , Great-West is the fourth-largest group retirement plan recordkeeper based on total participants and Putnam Investments adds to the organization's North American presence in this market.

Go here to read the rest:
Quebec's proposed voluntary retirement savings plan offers a strategic framework for other provincial plans