How cooperatives work
About Desjardins Group
Desjardins Group is the leading cooperative financial group in Canada. It comprises a network of caisses, Desjardins Business centres and Signature Service centres, and some 20 subsidiary companies in life and general insurance, securities brokerage, venture capital and asset management.
At Desjardins Group, our goal is to be everyone’s top choice. Thanks to our varied distribution channels, numerous intermediary networks and personnel who strive to deliver quality service, we’re able to stay connected to our members and their communities.
Desjardins keeps a close eye on its caisse network and how it services its members and clients to meet their increasingly diverse needs. We’re also committed to ensuring vitality at the caisse level in terms of cooperative and democratic life, representation, education and training, cooperation with other cooperatives and support for community development.
Objectives and services of your caisse
Your Desjardins caisse is a financial cooperative with objectives that differ from those of other financial institutions, such as:
Providing financial advice and services that members need to achieve and sustain financial wellness
Contributing to the cooperative, economic and financial education of members
Helping them make informed decisions
Fostering and supporting community development
Every business needs to turn a profit and Desjardins Group also has to follow market prices and conditions. However, the caisses always use their profits to better serve their members, and not for the good of a select few shareholders. Desjardins Group seeks to foster human development and help people improve their quality of life.
Use your caisse's services
You're a member of a financial services cooperative guided by values, principles and a sense of responsibility.
Your caisse plays a key role in the economic and social development of your community. When you look to your caisse to get the financial services you need, you’re also contributing to its financial well-being and helping it meet its profitability objectives. This allows the caisse and Desjardins Group to continue offering advice, products and services that are adapted to the evolving needs of members and are in their best interest.
For a caisse, this also means that it can continue to promote values like equality and solidarity, all the while providing the community and citizens with the tools they need to take control of their future and be more autonomous. This philosophy is also shared by Desjardins Group subsidiaries.
Caisse operations
Are you a caisse member? As members, you adhere to the values of solidarity and mutual aid that are the foundation of cooperation. Furthermore, to ensure that your caisse is financially sound, you get the financial services you need. You can also:
- Share your point of view by taking part in the annual general meeting
- Submit your candidacy for the position of director
- Receive member dividends
Democracy
A caisse operates on the "one member, one vote" principle. This means that it's impossible to take control of a cooperative, which could happen in a company if the major shareholder decides to do so.
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting is called once a year, no later than 120 days after the end of the financial year. A special general meeting may also be called to discuss important matters such as caisse mergers.
Members can also contribute directly to caisse orientations. A member may inform others during the meeting about a local problem if they think the caisse has a solution or a way to support citizens in their efforts to correct the problem. Members may also express their opinions about caisse services (reception, information or business hours).
At the annual or special general meeting, members typically do the following:
- Adopt or change caisse by-laws
- Decide to divide surplus earnings and dividends among members (Quebec only)
- Weigh in on amount paid into the community development fund
- Approve or reject caisse mergers
- Elect members to the Board of Directors
Member dividends
If caisse operations are profitable, the caisse will realize a surplus that is paid out to members. These surplus funds are also called member dividends. Caisse members may also decide to allocate a portion or even all of the available surplus to one or several group projects. For example, members of several caisses have already spent considerable amounts on financial education, job creation projects, support for new businesses, promoting local products and also support organizations for people in crisis.
Sponsorships and charitable partnerships
Desjardins is actively involved in the community, and especially with youth. We’re committed to giving them the means they need to succeed.
We help them become more financially literate and achieve their career goals and entrepreneurial and social involvement projects. We also support them in their health and healthy lifestyle initiatives.
Desjardins Group Congress of Elected Directors
Desjardins Congresses are held as needed (generally every 3 to 5 years). They bring together directors delegated by their caisse to discuss major themes that will guide the organization's growth in the years to come.
A Desjardins Congress is an ideal opportunity for caisses to reflect on their members’ needs and on how they can contribute to the economic and social development of their community.
Congress participants are essentially elected directors.
Each caisse delegates a specific number of participants based on the total number of members it serves. The themes covered during a congress are inspired by the challenges Desjardins Group is facing at the time and the socio-economic context of the period.
Share your opinion on our products and services
The Desjardins Web Panel is a group of Desjardins clients and members who agree to take part in online surveys on various subjects. It gives you the opportunity to share your opinion and influence the development of products and services designed for you. Moreover, you can test and comment on new products and services that could be offered to you.
Desjardins Group policies
Member and client privacy
Desjardins Group takes the protection of personal information very seriously. The policy it has adopted to this end establishes the directions and rules that Desjardins Group components set for themselves and abide by with regards to member and client personal information collected, used or disclosed.
The policy explains how Desjardins Group components protect the privacy of personal information as they provide members and clients with financial services. It also describes the principles they apply to protect the privacy of their respective members and clients while operating in Canada both on an inter-provincial or intra-provincial basis.
Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is a tool that Desjardins Group uses to uphold integrity and the trust of its members and clients.
Since the first caisses were established in 1900, their founder, Alphonse Desjardins, set the tone by instituting a board of supervision responsible for ensuring that officers and employees did their work in an appropriate and honest fashion.
In 1989, the caisse network put in place an explicit code of ethics. Thereafter, most of the other Group components adopted their own code of ethics. A few years later, a code with a section common to all components was adopted. In 2013, the Desjardins Code of Professional Conduct came into effect for all components.
It contains rules to guide the conduct of directors and employees. These rules deal with, among other things, privacy, protection of information, conflicts of interest and respect for the law. Any breach may result in sanctions or disciplinary measures, depending on the seriousness of the situation and the resulting consequences.
Report any violation of the Code of Professional Conduct to the appropriate component. Reports will be treated with care and confidentiality.
Bylaws of Groupe coopératif Desjardins
The Bylaws of the Groupe coopératif Desjardins comply with the requirements of the Act respecting financial services cooperatives.
They aim to ensure the cohesion and proper functioning of the Desjardins Cooperative Group, such as:
- Govern the relationships between the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec and its member caisses, including their auxiliary members
- Specify the practical modalities of these relationships
- Include regulatory provisions applicable to each caisse that is a member of the Federation