Desjardins Group announced today that it aims to increase the savings of its members and clients by 37.4% by 2008, taking its total savings volume to $125 billion.

In doing so, Desjardins intends to strengthen its position in the field of financial wealth management for individuals. To achieve this goal, Desjardins will rely on the strength of its caisse network, whose integrated offer of financial products and services is unique in the marketplace.

“Our concept known as ‘The Experts’ gives members one-stop access to the expertise of our various specialists, enabling them to identify the strategies and investment tools that are best suited to their specific needs. This distinctive caisse offering, which calls on the know-how of the various Desjardins subsidiaries, will be the mainstay of our growth strategy over the next few years in the savings market,” says Eric Lemieux, vice president, wealth management services at Desjardins Group.

Desjardins currently manages assets of $91 billion, of which $82 billion are held through the caisses. The Group holds 23% of the entire Québec savings market.

During the first three months of 2006, Desjardins Group generated $1.6 billion in new savings — a record level in any one quarter for the cooperative financial institution. This represents an increase of $387 million over the same period last year. Of this $1.6 billion, $933 million were invested by members during the last RRSP campaign, when Desjardins pulled in three times more savings volume previously held by competitors than the other way round.

“These highly encouraging results merely confirm that our choice of strategies was appropriate, focusing on an overall approach to asset management and on the top quality expertise of our staff in the caisses,”
notes Lemieux.

The ageing population, the gradual arrival of baby boomers at retirement age and the rapid increase of company transfers and family estate successions in the coming years will raise a whole new series of issues, posing major challenges to the field of wealth management.

To meet these new needs, individuals will require increasingly sophisticated wealth management advisory services and will want to be able to turn to new, innovative products. With this in mind, Desjardins has invested considerably over the years in training its employees to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to face this new reality.

“Today, we are proud to be able to say that the Desjardins caisses are fully prepared to meet the challenge. They have highly qualified resources, including the largest network of financial planners in Québec, with close to 1,300 professionals trained at the Institut québécois de planification financière (Québec institute of financial planning). Our caisses can also rely on the advisory force of some 300 financial security advisors at Desjardins Financial Security and 300 investment advisors at Desjardins Securities,” Lemieux adds.

To enable members to gradually lay the foundations that will ensure their financial success, Desjardins offers a range of often innovative solutions, aimed both at active professionals and at those who are on the point of retiring or who have reached that stage in their lives:

– The New Savings and Investment Offering Approach is designed for people who are seeking to amass sufficient capital to fund a project or to use when they leave the employment market.
– The Desjardins retirement approach is for members interested in stabilizing and optimizing their income at retirement, also covering tax issues.

In addition to the above, Desjardins offers the following innovations for investor-members:

– An integrated financial statement, which, starting in May, will gradually present the entirety of their assets held by Desjardins Group.
– Patronage dividends paid to Desjardins Fund holders.
– Patronage dividends paid in the form of capital shares (Surplus Shares), which will be available as of 2007 and will give members 30% more value over dividends paid as cash. It will also be possible to use these dividends as RRSP contributions.
– The Independent Lifestyle Solution, launched this month by Desjardins Financial Security, which provides a new, innovative form of insurance coverage to baby-boomers requiring minimal to moderate assistance.
– A new range of structured guaranteed capital investment products offering better liquidity and the assurance of a minimum yield.