At Desjardins Trust, the third quarter ended with net earnings of $4 million, bringing the earnings for the first nine months of the year to $11.2 million, an increase of 22.4% over figures for last year.

In comparison, the third quarter and the first nine months of 2000 ended with net earnings of $3.5 million and $9.2 million respectively. These results, registered on September 30, 2001, represent a return on common shareholder’s equity of 20.15%.

Fee income for the third quarter of 2001 was $21.6 million, compared to $22 million in 2000. This slight decrease in fee income is essentially attributable to the repercussions of market discounts on investment fund assets.

Net investment income reached $7.3 million, compared to $7.1 million for the third quarter of 2000. Combined, the two sources of income brought total income to $28.9 million as of last September 30, compared to $29 million in 2000.

Total operating expenses for the third quarter of 2001 were $22.3 million, while figures reached $23.1 million for the same period in 2000. During the third quarter of last year, non-recurring expenses were entailed to ensure the marketing of the Maestral Funds, a new family of mutual funds launched in October 2000 and designed for investment dealers, life insurance agents and financial planners.

As of September 30, 2001, Desjardins Trust assets amounted to $1.31 billion, compared to $1.28 billion as of December 31, 2000.