Desjardins-Laurentian Financial Corp. is reporting improved earnings for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001

The insurance holding company said consolidated net earnings for the year were $106. compared to net earnings of $80.8 million in 2000. Return on equity was 10%, up from 8.7% in 2000.

In 2001, net earnings surpassed the $100 million mark, a first for the company..

During 2001, consolidated revenues totalled $3,501.4 million, up 8% over 2000, despite a 7% drop in interest and investment income as a result of rate cuts and the stock market downturn.

Operating income rose 13%. The rise was largely attributable to higher general insurance premiums, reflecting the acquisition of subsidiaries outside Quebec in August 2000 and the 11% growth in business generated by the Quebec subsidiaries.

As for the life and health insurance sector, the 10% increase in insurance premiums was offset by a drop in annuity premiums, attributable to the unstable economic context.

Operating expenses totalled $1,007.8 million for 2001, compared to $903.5 million in 2000. The new general insurance subsidiaries, acquired in August 2000, mainly accounted for the increase.

For the fourth quarter of 2001, net earnings totalled $28.1 million compared to $16.3 million in the year-earlier quarter. Consolidated revenue totalled $936.3 million in 2001, up from $821.7 million in 2000, reflecting the increase in net premiums and higher interest and investment income.

The firms’s consolidated assets totalled $12.8 billion at year-end 2001 compared to $12.1 billion at December 31, 2000. The increase was mainly attributable to the securities brokerage sector, which repatriated certain bond desk activities from the Caisse centrale Desjardins and increased business at the insurance subsidiaries.

Assets under management and under administration totalled $11.6 billion and $149.5 billion, respectively, at December 31, 2001, compared to $11.1 billion and $152.1 billion a year earlier.