Canadian multinational lender Scotiabank has signed an agreement to divest its banking operations in nine Caribbean countries to Republic Financial Holdings (RHFL).
The divestment forms part of the bank’s strategy to focus on its core markets with significant scale.
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Scotiabank Caribbean retreat: Details
Under the terms of the agreement, Scotiabank will sell its operations in Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
Scotiabank in a statement said that the transaction is not financially material to the company.
It added: “Scotiabank’s common equity tier one capital ratio will increase by approximately 10 basis points on closing.”
Under the terms of the agreement, all Scotiabank employees across the nine markets will migrate to the Republic Group.
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By GlobalDataAll Scotiabank operations in the affected countries will continue as usual, until all approvals are received.
Commenting on the sale, Scotiabank International Banking group head Ignacio Deschamps said: “Due to increasing regulatory complexity and the need for continued investment in technology to support our regulatory requirements, we made the decision to focus the Bank’s efforts on those markets with significant scale in which we can make the greatest difference for our customers.
“Scotiabank is committed to the Caribbean as demonstrated by the Bank’s ongoing investment in products, services and processes to provide an enhanced banking experience to customers across the region.”
Furthermore, Scotiabank has also decided to divest its insurance operations in two Caribbean countries including Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago to Sagicor Financial.
Headquartered in Toronto, Scotiabank offers variety of financial services across the Americas.
As of 31 October 2018, the bank has assets of $998bn with employee strength of 97,000.
