The
Desjardins Group (or
Mouvement des caisses Desjardins in French) is the largest association of
credit unionA credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members, and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at reasonable rates, and providing other financial services to its members. Many credit unions exist to further community...
s in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. It was founded in 1900 in
Lévis, QuébecLévis is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and the Pierre Laporte Bridge, connect western Lévis with Quebec City...
by
Alphonse DesjardinsGabriel-Alphonse Desjardins , born in Lévis, Quebec, was the co-founder of the Caisses Populaires Desjardins , a forerunner of North American credit unions and community banks.- Early life :...
.
Located mostly in
QuébecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
as well as in
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
,
ManitobaManitoba is a prairie province in Canada and has an area of . Manitoba is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territory of Nunavut to the north, and the U.S. states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south...
, and
New BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally bilingual province in the confederation. The provincial capital is Fredericton...
, it is composed of 536 local
caisses populaires, which serve 5.8 million members. The entire system is grouped into 11 regional federations.
Total assets at Desjardins Group reached $151.9 billion
CADThe Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents...
in 2008, ranking it the sixth-largest
financial institutionIn financial economics, a financial institution is an institution that provides financial services for its clients or members. Probably the most important financial service provided by financial institutions is acting as financial intermediaries. Most financial institutions are highly regulated by...
in Canada and the largest in Québec, ahead of
National Bank of CanadaNational Bank of Canada is the 6th largest bank and 7th largest financial institution in Canada. The bank's headquarters are in Montreal, Quebec which manage 446 branches, the vast majority of which are in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, and 2,35 million personal clients...
. It had in 2006 over 40 000 employees and 6 500 elected and volunteer officers. In 2006, it gave its members $483 million CAD in patronage allocations and $64 million CAD in donations, sponsorships and academic scholarships. Most of the latter sum was used on regional economic development and health programs as well.
The Desjardins Group has over 20 subsidiaries, ranging from
insurance servicesInsurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed and known...
(
Desjardins Financial SecurityDesjardins Financial Security is the life and health insurance arm of Desjardins Group, the leading financial institution in Quebec and the largest cooperative financial group in Canada....
, Desjardins General Insurance),
real estateReal estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, specifically property that is fixed in location.
"Real estate" The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin...
(Place Desjardins), venture capital funds (Desjardins Venture Capital) and
brokerage servicesA stock broker or stockbroker is a regulated professional broker who buys and sells shares and other securities through market makers or Agency Only Firms on behalf of investors.- United States :...
(Desjardins Securities). The Desjardins Group, through its 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
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
: in 1992 it opened the Desjardins Bank in
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
to cater to southbound Quebecers, particularly
snowbirdsThe term Snowbird is used to describe people from the Northeast, Midwestern United States, or Canada who spend a large portion of winter in warmer locales such as California, Arizona, Florida, The Carolinas, or elsewhere along the Sunbelt region of the southern and southwest United States, areas...
and
retireesRetirement is the point where a person stops employment completely . A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours...
; this latter practice has also been adopted by a number of the
banks in Canada.
Desjardins is a member of:
- Interac
Interac Association is a Canadian organization linking enterprises that have proprietary networks so that they may communicate with each other for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions...
- NYCE
The New York Cash Exchange is an interbank network connecting the ATMs of various financial institutions in the United States and Canada. NYCE also serves as an EFTPOS network for NYCE-linked ATM cards.NYCE is based in Secaucus, New Jersey...
ATM Network
External links