Lévis, Que.-based Desjardins Financial Security (DFS) reported net income of $106.9 million in the second quarter, compared to $87.5 million for the same period in 2013, an increase of 22%.

DFS, a subsidiary of Desjardins Group, specializing in life insurance, health insurance and retirement savings products, said gross insurance premiums rose to $895.5 million, up 4% from the same period last year.

Insurance sales totalled $106.5 million, down from $116.8 million in the second quarter of 2013.

Individual savings product sales stood at $72.9 million, up 11.8% over the $65.2 million reported for the second quarter of 2013.

In group retirement savings, sales totalled $89.3 million for the quarter.

For the first six months of 2014, DFS posted a net profit of $194.8 million compared to $191.7 million for the same period in 2013. DFS also posted a 4.6% increase in gross insurance premium income, which totalled $1.8 billion compared to $1.7 billion in the first half of 2013.

“The company’s positive mid-year performance was due in part to the favourable financial markets and improved returns on investment. It should also be noted that adjustments to actuarial assumptions had boosted mid-year results in 2013,” said DFS in a statement.

The share of net income attributable to the shareholder, Desjardins Financial Corp., was $180.7 million compared to $176.5 million in the same period last year. Return on equity was 17.4% compared with 19.0%.

Assets under management and administration increased by 12.5% to $39.7 billion at June 30, 2014, compared with $35.3 billion a year ago.

Sector results

In group insurance, the volume of premiums from groups and businesses and from plans offered through financial institutions, including the Desjardins caisses, totalled $1.5 billion in the first half of 2014 compared to 1 $4 billion for the comparable period in 2013. Group and business insurance sales were $118.3 million share, compared with $129 million as of June 30, 2013. Sales for plans offered in financial institutions totalled $83.9 million.

In individual insurance, gross premiums totalled $326.4 million compared to $312 million for the same period in 2013.

Total sales recorded by the financial security advisors assigned to Desjardins caisses and by the SFL network and Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network financial centres stood at $25.3 million.

In savings, total sales amounted to $1.1 billion. Individual savings sales grew 16.2% to stand at $174.4 million, compared to $150.1 million the same time last year. Group retirement savings sales stood at $202.2 million, compared to $767.3 million in the first half of 2013. Note that the 2013 results had been boosted by the sale of a contract worth close to $500 million.