Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and hon. members of the Standing Committee on Finance. My name is Daniel Roussel and I am the Consulting Director for the Senior Vice-President, Cooperation and Corporate Affairs of the Desjardins Group. We are honoured to give testimony before you today.
The Desjardins Group is much more than a financial institution for rural communities. It is a tool that has enabled those communities to develop over the past century. I would even say that it is a multi-purpose tool because it has supported personal projects, business projects and collective structural projects.
But how does our institution stand out from other financial institutions? As my colleague Mr. Phillips said earlier, like credit unions, the cooperative nature is the strength that enables our institution to meet increasingly diverse needs.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Mr. Desjardins established credit unions and cooperatives, but today, as we enter the 21st century, we realize that the members of our caisses are faced with increasingly complex issues, including the dematerialization of money, the globalization of financial and trade markets, the increase of debt and the development of mobility.
Information technologies have changed both the way we consume goods and the way we communicate. However, the Desjardins Group continues to provide in-person services to members at its more than 1,000 points of service and 43 business financial centres. I would like to point out that, in Quebec, 32% of the Desjardins points of service are in communities with fewer than 2,000 residents, whereas the percentage for banks is only 2%.
Not only does Desjardins provide services locally, but it also focuses on its relationships. The group's caisses, which serve workers' communities of interest and cultural communities regardless of location, show how important this type of community-oriented approach is. According to the current trend, our democratic structure encourages close relationships with members and the participation of members in the group's initiatives.
I think it is important to point out that, without the participation of elected leaders, respect for the distinctiveness of each caisse and a flexible approach adapted to their local reality, Desjardins would not be today the largest cooperative financial group in Canada and the sixth largest in the world. Our leaders, elected from local communities, ensure the caisses become firmly rooted in those communities and promote local services through innovation. For instance, our points of service are increasingly sharing resources and buildings with municipalities, which makes it possible to increase the hours of operation and to keep most transactions traditionally carried out by tellers.
The prosperity of rural communities relies especially on support for innovation. Since a cooperative is a voluntary group of people who want their needs to be met and, as a result, take charge, we feel that this business model is an attractive and viable solution to the prosperity of rural communities, including access to essential services.
We are seeing multi-purpose cooperatives emerge everywhere. They are like a breath of fresh air in a number of devitalized or lower-density communities where they respond to essential and diversified needs. We are also seeing solidarity cooperatives that provide grocery, fuel and even postal services in addition to financial services.
Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins is closely involved in the development of resource regions. First, it injects venture capital into SMEs and cooperatives and offers its local expertise. Second, it promotes the transfer of businesses, which makes it possible to maintain its presence in local communities in order to avoid the outsourcing of jobs.
In 2012, Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins invested a record $237 million in Quebec businesses. We have also used some of that investment for a farm succession fund for young people who wish to buy farms. In addition, the caisses themselves provide an impressive range of services. The caisses also contribute to the community development fund, which enables people to invest in structuring projects in their own communities.
Last year, an amount of $41 million was invested in local projects, community projects.
I could also talk about Desjardins' educational role. It is fair to say that, over time, Desjardins and its leaders have become a popular university for financial literacy.
I would like to wrap up by talking about services. Our company employs 45,000 people across Canada and provides services to Aboriginal communities as well. We could also talk about our solidarity-based financing for people who are not eligible for financial services.