The Bank of Nova Scotia (French: Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (French: Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

[5] Scotiabank has billed itself as "Canada's most international bank" due to its acquisitions primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean, and also in Europe and parts of Asia.

[7] Scotiabank's president and CEO Brian J. Porter[8] announced his retirement to be effective January 31, 2023, and Scott Thompson was named as his replacement.

[10] The bank opened a branch in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1889 to facilitate the trading of sugar, rum, and fish.

In the following year, the bank opened a branch in London, and another in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

[citation needed] During the mid-20th century, the bank grew not only in size but also in breadth of products and services.

Major changes include:[11] Following the passage of the National Housing Act, the Bank of Nova Scotia created a mortgage department in 1954.

The late 1980s and 1990s saw the bank acquire several firms, including McLeod Young Weir brokerage firm (co-founded by Donald Ivan McLeod, William Ewart Young, James Gordon Weir and John Henry (Harry) Ratcliffe in 1921)[13] in 1988, and Montreal Trustco Inc. in 1994.

[11] Scotiabank later acquired Inverlat banking house in 2003, taking over all of its branches and establishing a strong presence in the country.

[15] In 2002, Scotiabank shut its branches (formerly Banco Quilmes) in Argentina during the currency crisis and massive sovereign default.

As a result of the FATCA agreement between Canada and the United States, signed between the two countries in 2014, Scotiabank has also spent almost $100 million implementing a controversial system to report to the United States the account holdings of close to one million Canadians of American origin and their Canadian-born spouses.

[20][21] On July 14, 2015, Scotiabank announced that it would buy Citigroup's retail and commercial banking operations in Panama and Costa Rica.

[25] On February 21, 2019, the Prosecutor in the Central American country of Costa Rica raided Scotiabank's offices in San José, Costa Rica, claiming that the bank had failed to provide the government with information on accounts and deposits that could allegedly implicate Alejandro Toledo, the former president of Peru, in money laundering.

[26] Later that year, in June 2019 it was announced that OFG Bancorp would acquire all branches of Scotiabank within Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands territories as part of a $550 million cash deal.

In 2019, Scotiabank underwent a rebranding, modifying its wordmark logo and introducing a new corporate font based on its design, downplaying the company's S and globe monogram, and increasing use of the abbreviated name "Scotia".

[29] In February 2024, Bank of Nova Scotia announced the creation of first indigenous-owned investment dealer in Canada.

As part of the transaction, KeyCorp and Scotiabank plan to explore commercial opportunities to partner together in the future to best serve their respective client bases.

[38] Elbit also provides surveillance system in the West Bank, and has a spying-tool division that has been involved in spying on journalists.

Initially, investigators found that Oropesa and Jaime Ross, her former boss, had illegally transferred US$5 million from client investment accounts.

As the investigation continued, officials found an additional $9 million missing and involvement of 16 other bank employees in the fraud.

[42] In 2014, the bank reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit that covered thousands of workers owed more than a decade of unpaid overtime.

[45][46] In June 2005, David Berry, a very successful Canadian Scotiabank trader who had built a $75 million/year business in trading preferred shares, was fired on the grounds that he had committed securities regulatory violations.

[47] At the time, as part of a 20 per cent direct drive deal, he was making more than double the CEO's salary and Scotiabank management had already taken steps to limit his compensation.

[48] The regulatory violation allegations from his former employer, left him unemployable to Scotiabank's competitors despite the appeal of potentially adding more than $75 million/year to their equity trading profits.

[48] Documents delivered to the media showing that Scotiabank management had sought advice on terminating Berry prior to the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) violation accusation, and the results of questioning during the IIROC inquiries strongly suggest that the securities charges were part of a plan by Scotiabank senior management to remove Berry from his position and simultaneously prevent him from becoming their competitor.

[49] In a ruling on January 15, 2013, more than seven years after the initial accusation, a hearing panel of the IIROC dismissed all charges against Berry.

Scotiabank was also a primary sponsor for Champion Boxer Miguel Cotto during his 2009 bout with Manny Pacquiao.

[59] On August 29, 2017, Scotiabank and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, announced that Scotiabank purchased the naming rights to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto for $800 million, a record-setting deal described as "one of the biggest investments in naming rights in North America".

Scotiabank and Canadian theatre operator Cineplex Entertainment partnered in 2007 to create a loyalty rewards program called Scene+.

The program allows patrons to sign up for a special card that grants them points which can be redeemed for free movies or concession discounts.