Situation at Desjardins Group: AMF clarification
Deposit institutions Organization
Montréal – Montréal June 20, 2019 – The Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”) wishes to provide the public with clarification concerning the personal data leak affecting Desjardins Group.
The AMF reminds the public that Desjardins Group will be contacting its members affected by the leak individually and that general information about the incident is available at www.desjardins.com/personal-information 
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This a very serious situation, which the AMF is monitoring closely.
After being informed of the incident, the AMF quickly inquired about the potential implications and the steps taken by Desjardins Group to effectively address the situation.
The AMF was informed of the situation shortly after it was discovered by Desjardins Group. The AMF is satisfied with the actions taken to date by Desjardins Group to protect the interests and assets of its members. It remains confident that the institution’s officers have handled the situation with due rigour, transparency and speed and that the cooperation provided to law enforcement is full and complete.
The major incident that happened to Desjardins Group today highlights the omnipresent risks to information security that all organizations must now contend with.
For the past several years, the AMF has stressed in its publicationsThe AMF annual reports on financial institutions are available at lautorite.qc.ca/en/general-public/publications/amf-publications/annual-reports/ the importance for financial institutions under its supervision to properly assess information technology risks and bolster privacy safeguards and cybersecurity. The AMF therefore satisfied itself that Desjardins Group had immediately implemented the additional strengthening measures required in view of the security breach discovered as result of this incident.
The AMF is moving forward with purpose to ensure that institutions implement the best measures to control and mitigate the risks they are exposed to.
As it is bound by a statutory obligation of confidentiality with respect to its prudential supervisory work and ongoing police investigations, the AMF will not be commenting further on this situation.
The Autorité des marchés financiers is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec’s financial sector.
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