Going concern

Monique Leroux, FCA,
Senior Executive Vice-President & CFO,
Mouvement des Caisses Desjardins

Company profile: The caisse populaire founded by Alphonse Desjardins in 1900 is now the largest financial institution in Quebec and ranks sixth in Canada, with $100 billion in assets. Operating mainly in Quebec, but also in other Canadian francophone areas, the cooperative has more than 38,000 staff, 1,500 locations and five million members.

Hot factor: Mouvement Desjardins' mission is to contribute to the economic and social well-being of individuals and groups and to promote democracy, solidarity and collective responsibility — values central to the cooperative movement. In 2003, its members shared $440 million in patronage allocations and Desjardins gave away $43 million in donations, sponsorships and scholarships — while generating an annual profit of $816 million. In 2002, it ranked in the top five in terms of credit rating among participants at the international conference of cooperative banks held in Berlin.

Cool projects: After more than a century of success in Quebec and French-speaking Canada, Desjardins plans to expand across Canada. In January 2003, the cooperative established Desjardins Credit Union to acquire the Province of Ontario Savings Office for $170 million. Today, more than 25 financial cooperatives located mainly in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe display the Desjardins logo. Desjardins expects up to a quarter of its earnings will eventually come from English-speaking Canada.

In her own words: "The goal is to make Desjardins a major integrated cooperative financial group. What motivates me the most is successfully delivering the required solutions."

René Lewandowski