Scotiabank Adds Panama Holdings

Canadian Scotiabank annonced Wednesday that it has officially taken over the BNP Parisbas wealth management business in Panama and the Cayman Islands as it continues to expand into Latin America and the Caribbean regions.

Last month, the bank also introduced a separate global wealth management division as it reworked its structure into four businesses, instead of three, in order to gain more opportunities for strategic growth and change how the bank reports its earnings, CBC News reports.

Scotiabank started offering personal and commercial financial services in Panama in 1974 and has branches in Bella Vista, El Dorado, Condado del Rey, Albrook, Punta Pacifica, Boquete, Brisas del Golf, Costa del Este, David, Villa Lucre, Torre de las Americas and the Free Zone.

BNP Paribas started its wealth management arm in Panama in 1952 but gave up its Panama assets last year as part of a pledge to pull out of countries on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s “gray list” of tax havens.