Desjardins Group

Desjardins Group

Type	Cooperative
Industry	Financial services
Founded	Lévis, Quebec, Canada (1900)
Headquarters	Lévis, Quebec and Montreal, Quebec
Key people	Monique Leroux, President & Chief Executive Officer
Products	Chequing Accounts Insurance stock brokerage Investment Bank Asset-Based Lending Consumer finance
Total assets	C$175.89 billion 2010[1]
Employees	39,985 (2006)
Website	desjardins.com

A Desjardins caisse populaire in Montreal.

The Desjardins Group (or Mouvement des caisses Desjardins in French) is the largest association of credit unions in North America. It was founded in 1900 in Lévis, Quebec by Alphonse Desjardins.

Located mostly in Quebec as well as in Ontario, Manitoba, and New Brunswick, it is composed of 536 local caisses populaires, which serve 5.8 million members. The entire system is grouped into 11 regional federations.

Between 2008 and 2010 total assets at Desjardins Group grew over 15% from $151.9 billion CAD (when it ranked sixth in Canada and first in Quebec among financial institutions ahead of the National Bank of Canada) to over C$175 billion in 2010. In 2006 it had 6,500 elected and volunteer officers and employed over 40,000 people. In 2006, it gave its members $483 million CAD in patronage allocations and $64 million CAD in donations, sponsorships and academic scholarships.^[2] Most of the latter sum was used on regional economic development and health programs as well.

The Desjardins Group has over 20 subsidiaries offering products and services related to insurance (Desjardins Financial Security, Desjardins General Insurance), real estate (Place Desjardins), venture capital funds (Desjardins Venture Capital) and brokerage (Desjardins Securities). The Desjardins Group, through subsidiary Développement international Desjardins, is also active in over 50 developing countries through technical assistance programs and various investments.

Desjardins Group is currently expanding outside the province of Quebec: in 1992 it opened the Desjardins Bank in Florida to cater to southbound Quebecers, particularly snowbirds and retirees; this latter practice has also been adopted by a number of other Canadian banks. In December 2010 it acquired Western Financial for C$443 million giving it a presence in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. At the time Western Financial had 121 offices and half a million customers.^[1]

Desjardins is a member of:

• Interac
• NYCE ATM Network

and also has its brand of VISA credit cards.

See also

• Complexe Desjardins
• Desjardins Financial Security
• Credit union

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Desjardins Boosts Western Presence With Western Financial Buy". 2010-10-24. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101224-703250.html. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Mouvement Desjardins (2008). Monique F. Leroux Becomes First Woman Elected as President and CEO of Desjardins Group URL accessed on March 23, 2008.

External links

• Desjardins Group website