The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank)

Description:

Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) provides products and services in the areas of personal banking and for businesses. In Canada, it serves more than 7mn customers through a multi-channel delivery network. Worldwide, it has a presence in 55 countries including Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Asia. In Latin America Scotiabank has a presence in Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Peru, and has a strategy aimed at increasing the group's footprint in the region. In 2012, the bank acquired a controlling stake in Colfondos, a Colombian pension fund manager. That same year, Scotiabank purchased Crédito Familiar, a Mexican firm engaged in the consumer and microfinance segments, and a 50% stake in Peru's AFP Horizonte, through its local pension fund administrator Profuturo AFP. During 2014, Scotiabank reached an agreement with Chilean retailer Cencosud to buy 51% of its financial services operations, while at the end of that year it purchased Citibank's Peruvian retail and commercial banking divisions.

In 2016, the bank acquired all of the shares of Citibank's subsidiaries in Panama and Costa Rica. The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in 1832 and is based in Halifax, with executive offices in Toronto.