Internet killed the Wall Street star
Scotiabank has further tightened its grip on Latin America's banking sector by increasing its stake in Banco Sud Americano. On July 21 it announced it would increase its 28% stake in the Chilean bank to a controlling 61%. Canada's most international bank, it has operations in over 55 countries, has a stake in seven Latin American banks, in three of which it holds a majority.
This Canadian bank feels quite at home in Latin America - it has been operating there for longer than parts of its own country. It sprang up on the east coast of Canada in the 19th century financing the trade of lumber and wheat from the north to salted cod, rum and sugar cane from the south. The Atlantic waterway transformed Scotiabank into Canada's Caribbean bank where it has operated for over 100 years. It had a branch in Kingston, Jamaica before it had opened in Toronto, Canada's financial capital.
It has been in South America since the 1960s and has built up a reputation for turning around ailing local banks.