The Bank of Nova Scotia - Introduction

Introduction

Scotia Plaza
44 King Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5H 1H1
Canada
Telephone: (416) 866-6161
Fax: (416) 866-3750
Web site: http://www.scotiabank.com

Public Company
Incorporated: 1832
Employees: 43,869
Total Assets: C$282.16 billion (US$200.48 billion) (2003)
Stock Exchanges: Toronto New York London
Ticker Symbol: BNS
NAIC: 551111 Offices of Bank Holding Companies; 522110 Commercial Banking; 522210 Credit Card Issuing; 523110 Investment Banking and Securities Dealing; 523120 Securities Brokerage; 523920 Portfolio Management; 523930 Investment Advice; 523991 Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities; 525910 Open-End Investment Funds

The Bank of Nova Scotia, the second oldest bank in Canada, was the second largest Canadian bank in 2003 in term of assets (trailing only Royal Bank of Canada). Scotiabank, as it is usually called, conducts its activities through four major divisions: domestic banking, wealth management, Scotia Capital, and international. The domestic banking unit provides a full range of banking services to individuals, small businesses, and commercial accounts; its more than six million customers are served through a network of nearly 1,000 domestic offices and close to 2,200 automatic bank machines (ABMs), in addition to telephone banking, wireless services, and the Scotia OnLine Internet banking service. The wealth management unit, which encompasses Scotiabank's retail brokerage, mutual funds, and private clients services, has nearly three-quarters of a million clients and in excess of $82 billion in assets under management. Active in Canada, the United States, and Europe, Scotia Capital provides the bank's corporate, institutional, and government clients with corporate and investment banking services. The Bank of Nova Scotia is considered to be the most international of the "Big Five" Canadian banks. Its international banking operations range across more than 40 countries and include more than 720 branches and offices and more than 1,500 ABMs. Scotiabank ranks as the Caribbean's leading provider of financial services, has the largest presence in Asia of any Canadian bank, and maintains major holdings in Latin America, including majority ownership of Grupo Financiero Scotiabank Inverlat, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico and subsidiary operations in Chile, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.