Canadian bank Scotiabank wants to expand its operations in Colombia and Brazil to increase its Latin American banking platform, said Chief Risk Officer Brian Porter.
In a speech today made to investors in London sponsored by UBS AG, Porter said, “There are two countries in Latin America today that we’d like to be in that we aren’t, and that would be Brazil and Colombia. Both countries have very interesting metrics.”
Scotiabank currently has operations in about 50 countries, whose Latin American contingent includes Mexico, Chile and Peru, reports financial news site Bloomberg.
During 2009’s fiscal third quarter, international banking represented about a third of the bank’s C$931 million (US$864.9 million) profit.