Desjardins Confirms Support for Combination of Montréal and Toronto exchanges

Certain ambiguities still to be removed to better reflect partners’ intentions

Montréal (Québec), March 26, 2008 – Given the global trend towards consolidation in the stock market sector, Desjardins Group still believes that the agreement to merge the two Canadian exchanges is necessary to ensure long-term continuity in their respective markets, as well as to strengthen their positioning both nationally and internationally.

This is the conclusion emerging from comments submitted by Desjardins to the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), as part of its consultations on the consolidation of the Montréal and Toronto exchanges.

“The creation of the TMX Group is the best option to ensure the greatest reach for the expertise developed in Montréal in this leading-edge, high-growth sector,” stated Desjardins Group President and CEO, Mr. Alban D’Amours. “In addition, I believe that this merger will also make it possible to relieve the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Montréal Exchange with respect to the March 2009 deadline and thereby ensure its continuity, which will benefit Montréal and the province of Québec.”

While it does endorse the amalgamation project, Desjardins would like to distance itself from any possible ambiguity associated with the manner in which the agreement texts would be written. That is why it is asking for precisions to be made in order to better reflect the intentions and the spirit behind the work leading up to the development of the stock market consolidation project.

Thus, despite Desjardins’ favourable impression of the request, there remains a measure of doubt as to the possibility that the assignments pertaining to the Chief Executive Officer of Montréal Exchange could be modified if someone other than Mr. Luc Bertrand occupied this position. For Desjardins, the responsibilities outlined in the amalgamation request should be assigned with respect to the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Montréal Exchange and not to the person represented by Mr. Bertrand.

Furthermore, Desjardins would like to see certain TSX Group commitments with regard to the AMF be outlined in more detail. For example, the request states that TSX Group undertakes to ensure that all “existing derivatives trading and related products operations of MX remain in Montréal.” According to Desjardins, the use of the expression “existing” appears limiting and does not seem to properly translate the partners’ intentions to make Montréal a centre of expertise for the future development of derivative products.

There is also another point that may be subject to interpretation and lead one to believe that the activities of the Montréal Exchange would be limited to the Canadian market, which would also not reflect the partners’ intent. Desjardins would therefore like the TSX Group’s intent to make the Montréal Exchange the Canadian national exchange for all derivatives trading and related products, including being the sole operator for the trading of carbon and other emission credits, to be more clearly affirmed.

“It is important to remove these ambiguities so that the TMX Group can begin trading as quickly as possible and on a solid foundation. It seems to be no more than a formality, especially as, during discussions with representatives of the TSX Group, their intentions as to the role of the Montréal Exchange in the derivatives field appear quite clear to us,” added Mr. D’Amours.

Finally, with respect to the rules of governance, Desjardins believes that the proposal as a whole bears analysis before a decision is made. In particular, judging governance merely based on the number of Québec residents on the Board of Directors must be avoided. The question is rather to determine whether the proposed structure would make it possible to ensure the long-term continuity of the Montréal Exchange on a national and international scale as a centre of expertise in derivatives and to maintain the AMF as regulator of the new entity. Desjardins believes it would, as long as the ambiguities mentioned earlier were removed.

About Desjardins

The largest integrated cooperative financial group in Canada, with global assets of over $144 billion as at December 31, 2007, Desjardins Group consists of a network of caisses, branches, credit unions and business centres in Québec and Ontario, as well as some twenty subsidiaries in life and general insurance, securities brokerage, venture capital, and asset management, many of which are active nationwide. With the skills of its 40,000 employees and the commitment of more than 6,500 elected officers, Desjardins offers its 5.8 million members and clients–individuals and businesses alike–a full range of financial products and services. Its physical distribution network is rounded out by virtual access methods supported by leading-edge technology.

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