Source: The Canadian Press

Desjardins Group says that its second-quarter surplus before member dividends rose 20.7% to $408 million, compared with $338 million in the same period last year.

The country’s largest financial co-operative reported Monday that $215 million of the surplus earnings came from personal and business services through its branch office network.

Meanwhile, a further $85 million of the surplus came from the wealth management, life and health insurance segment and $31 million of the surplus came from the property and casualty insurance segment. A further $80 million came from the “other” segment.

The group’s total income in the quarter was $2.94 billion, up 6.2% from $2.77 billion in the comparable period of 2009.

Return on equity rose to 13.6%, compared to 13.4% in the same period a year earlier.

“These results are proof that our strategic planning provided us with the right directions and allowed us to report better profitability with a view to sustainable prosperity,” said chief executive Monique Leroux in a release.

“I commend the efforts made by the caisses and our business segments to attain levels of growth that have often surpassed our objectives.”

IE