Desjardins Group has released the results of its fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2019, announcing that the cooperative recorded surplus earnings, before member dividends, of $2.6 billion, up 11.7 per cent from the $2.3 billion reported for fiscal 2018.

In a Feb. 26 statement, the company said the increases stemmed from continued growth in the caisse network, and in payment and financing activities. The results were offset by smaller investment gains in the wealth management and life and health insurance segments. Net surplus earnings generated by those two segments came to $729-million at the end of fiscal 2019, down 18.5 per cent compared to fiscal 2018.

In property and casualty insurance, lower investment income was partly offset by a slightly favourable change in claims experience, which the company says remains high.

Costs related to privacy breach

Surplus earnings included a gain recognized in 2019 related to the sale of the entire portfolio of merchants receiving Desjardins Group services under the Monetico brand.  Costs related to the company’s 2019 privacy breach, affecting the data of 4.2 million members who do their banking with Desjardins in Quebec and Ontario, totaled $108-million in 2019.

For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2019, surplus earnings before member dividends stood at $935-million, up significantly from the $578-million reported for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2018. Adjusted surplus earnings before member dividends totaled $626-million, an increase of $48-million or 8.3 per cent. Adjusted surplus earnings for the year ended Dec. 31, reached $2.3 billion, up from $2.2 billion in 2018.