The Autorité des marchés financiers has issued a report detailing the earnings performance of various aspects of Quebec’s financial services sector.

The report, tabled in the National Assembly by Finance Minister Yves Séguin, shows that trust companies with business in Québec saw net earnings drop from $397.4 million in 2002 to $392.3 million in 2003, mainly due to a 20.7% reduction in fees and commissions.

Net earnings of savings companies decreased by 3.8% during the past year in Québec, falling from $933.3 million in 2002 to $898 million in 2003. The drop was explained mainly by a 7.2% increase in operating expenditures, the report said, although the exit of a large company also influenced the overall results.

Financial services cooperatives saw a 3.8% growth of profitability in Québec over the past year. Combined surplus earnings after patronage refunds rose from $524.9 million in 2002 to $544.7 million in 2003. This increase is mainly attributable to higher net financial income, which grew by $181.4 million in 2003 to reach $2.8 billion at the end of the year.

Also, personal insurance companies reported total net earnings of $5.7 billion during the past year, up 25.1% compared with the 2002 results. Based on all their Canadian activities in 2003, damage insurers experienced a significant increase in net earnings, from $664 million in 2002 to $2.42 billion in 2003. This increase is mainly explained by a positive turnaround in technical results and an improvement in investment income.

The Québec insurers that occupied a dominant position in personal insurance included Desjardins Financial Security Life Insurance Co., which held 18% of the market, Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services, with 10.1%, and SSQ, Life Insurance Company, with 8.5%.

With respect to damage insurance, the biggest insurers with a Québec charter were Desjardins General Insurance, which held 9.1% of the market, Axa Insurance, with 8%, Promutuel Group, with 6.1%, La Capitale General Insurance, with 4.1%, and l’Union Canadienne, compagnie d’assurances, with 3.3%.