Desjardins
Parent Company: Desjardins Group
Brand Value: $ 2,807 million
Headquarter City: Montreal
Industry: Insurance
Year Formed: 1900
Desjardins is North America’s leading cooperative financial network, offering personal and business services, wealth management, and life and health insurance. In 1900, Alphonse Desjardins, in response to the lack of credit in Quebec, founded the first “caisse populaire,” or credit union, in Levis. Essentially an innovation intended to bring down ruinous interest rates and promote penny savings, caisse populaires embrace the concepts of membership and profit sharing. The brand has steadily expanded over the century mostly in Ontario and Quebec—and is known for its excellent service and credit ratings. Today Desjardins’ 46,000 employees serve 7 million customers and oversee roughly $296 billion in assets under management.