Desjardins Financial Security posted net earnings of $79.2 million as at December 31, 2002, compared with $72 million in 2001, an increase of 10%.

Canada’s seventh-largest insurer says sales of group insurance and group retirement savings products were up 48% and 25% respectively. The individual insurance sector showed a 12% increase due mainly to a 64% increase in individual insurance sales to caisse members through the company’s financial security advisors.

“This is the first full year of operation for Desjardins Financial Security since the merger of Desjardins-Laurentian Life Assurance and Imperial Life. The merger has given us the means to continue our development and improve our efficiency,” said François Joly, president and chief operating officer

The share of profits attributable to parent company Desjardins-Laurentian Financial Corp. was $70.4 million, up 4.3% compared to $67.6 million in 2001. This result corresponds to a return on shareholder’s equity of 10.8%, slightly higher than that recorded in 2001.

The share of profits attributable to participating policyholders went from $4.4 million in 2001 to $8.8 million in 2002. This increase is mainly due to investment income, which helped increase the return from participating business, improved claims experience and preservation of business.

As a precaution, given the uncertainty of financial markets in 2002, the company said it increased its provision for investment assets. Without this provision, net earnings would have been $93.3 million.

Assets under management were $13 billion at Dec. 31, 2002 compared with $13.3 billion in 2001.