The Desjardins Group (french: Mouvement Desjardins) is a Canadian financial service

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

and the largest federation of

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including depo ...

s (french: caisses populaires) in North America. It was founded in 1900 in Lévis,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

by Alphonse Desjardins. While its legal headquarters remains in Lévis, most of the executive management, including the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, is based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. As of 2017, Desjardins Group consists of 293 local credit unions operating 1,032 points of service and serving more than seven million members and clients, mostly in the provinces of

and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. In addition to

retail banking Retail banking, also known as consumer banking or personal banking, is the provision of services by a bank to the general public, rather than to companies, corporations or other banks, which are often described as wholesale banking. Banking servi ...

, the Group has over twenty subsidiaries offering products and services related to

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

(

Desjardins Financial Security Desjardins Financial Security (DFS) is the life and health insurance arm of Desjardins Group, the leading financial institution in Quebec and the largest cooperative financial group in Canada. DFS registered a record-breaking revenue data in 201 ...

Desjardins General Insurance Desjardins General Insurance (DGI) is the P&C insurance subsidiary of Desjardins General Insurance Group, itself a subsidiary of Desjardins Group. The brand is sister with Desjardins Financial Security, and both of them regroup under the banner o ...

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

(

Complexe Desjardins Complexe Desjardins is a mixed-use office, hotel, and shopping mall complex located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the Quartier des spectacles area of Saint Catherine Street.brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

(Desjardins Securities). The Desjardins Group, through subsidiary Développement international Desjardins, is also active in over 30 developing countries through technical assistance programs and various investments. In October 2020, Desjardins launched a social impact fund, Aequitas, which could grow to 115 millions dollars and help women and youth in developing countries.

History

After studying European credit institutions established in the 19th century, Alphonse Desjardins in 1901 came up with an original solution adapted to North America. In the late 1990s, the number of ''caisses'' was reduced from 1275 to 800. Between 2008 and 2010, total assets at Desjardins Group grew over 15% from

Can$ The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style g ...

151.9 billion (when it ranked sixth in Canada and first in Quebec among

financial institution Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial insti ...

s ahead of the National Bank of Canada) to over $175 billion in 2010. In 2006, it had 6,500 elected and volunteer officers and employed over 40,000 people and gave its members $483 million in patronage allocations and $64 million in donations, sponsorships and academic scholarships. Most of the latter sum was used on regional economic development and health programs as well. In that same year, in March 2008, the election of Monique Leroux at the head of the group marked the history of Canada by becoming "Canada's largest company headed by a woman". In December 2010, it acquired the 121 offices and 500,000 customers of Western Financial for $443 million, giving it a presence in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. In 2011, Desjardins Credit Union in Ontario merged with

Meridian Credit Union Meridian Credit Union Ltd. is a Canadian credit union. It was formed on 1 April 2005 through the merger of Niagara Credit Union and HEPCOE Credit Union. It is insured by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. History Meridia ...

. In 2014, Desjardins Group acquired the Canadian operations of U.S.-based insurance giant

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Overview State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the la ...

. The policies were transferred to be underwritten by

Desjardins Insurance Desjardins Insurance is the insurance unit of Desjardins Group, the largest association of credit unions in Canada. Desjardins Insurance has two principal subsidiaries: Desjardins Financial Security (life, health and retirement insurance produ ...

on January 1, 2015. The State Farm brand continued to be used for agents and marketing until 2018. On January 3, 2017, Desjardins Group announced the closing of the sale of its pet health insurance company, Western Financial Insurance Company to Economical Mutual Insurance Company. Western Financial Insurance Company and its flagship brand, Petsecure were purchased in 2011 as part of the Western Financial Group deal. On July 5, 2017, Trimont Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, announced the completion of its purchase of the remainder of Western Financial Group from Desjardins Group for $775 million. Included in the sale were Western Financial Group's Brokerage Network, Western Financial Group Insurance Solutions, and Western Life Assurance. In 2018, State Farm Canada was officially rebranded to Desjardins Insurance through Desjardins Insurance Agents. The whole transition will be completed by December 31 in 2019.

2019 data breach

On June 20, 2019, Desjardins Group reported a

data breach A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, info ...

involving personal data of 4.3 million individual users and 173,000 businesses, more than 40% of Quebec-based credit union's clients and members. The security breach, detected in December 2018, was not linked to a direct cyberattack, but the result of a disgruntled corporate employee. The data leaked was assembled over a certain period of time after unauthorized access to banking systems and copied customer data. Police investigation is still ongoing.

Credit agency ratings

As of September 2017, Desjardins long-term debt is rated Aa2 by

Moody's Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international ...

, A+ by S&P, AA by

DBRS DBRS Morningstar is a global credit rating agency (CRA) founded in 1976 (originally known as Dominion Bond Rating Service in Toronto). DBRS was acquired by the global financial services firm Morningstar, Inc. in 2019 for approximately $700 millio ...

, and AA- by Fitch. S&P and Fitch considered the company's outlook "stable," while Moody's and DBRS rated it "negative."

References

External links

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Quick Facts about Desjardins

Branch Locator

Développement international Desjardins (DID)
{{Authority control Banks established in 1900 Canadian companies established in 1900 Companies based in Lévis, Quebec Cooperative federations Credit unions of Canada Canadian brands 1900s establishments in Quebec Mortgage lenders of Canada

History

2019 data breach

Credit agency ratings

See also

References

External links