Quebec-based Desjardins Group posted surplus earnings of $798 million before member dividends in the first quarter of 2021, up $513 million from a year earlier, the financial cooperative reported, quotes IE Investment Executive.
Desjardins attributed the growth in surplus earnings primarily to a decline in the provision for credit losses as well as good performance from the caisse network and a decrease in auto insurance losses in its property and casualty (P&C) segment.
The cooperative noted in a release that Q1 2020 was affected by the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the provision for credit losses being “affected by the deterioration in the economic outlook, and provisions were recognized in travel insurance.”