Scotiabank records $524m profit

SCOTIABANK TT Ltd has reported an after-tax profit of $524 million for the nine-month period ending 31 July, 2019. In a media release earlier in the week, the bank stated this represented an increase of $40 million or 8 per cent over the comparative period last year.“This increase is mainly due to increased income in our core banking segments, coupled with lower tax expense.”The bank noted this also highlighted its financial strength as its return on equity rose to 17.2 per cent with a return on assets to 2.9 per cent.

(Return on equity is a measure of how well a company uses investments to generate earnings growth. While a return on assets is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets.)

The bank also stated that based on this performance, its Board of Directors has approved a 3rd quarter dividend of 50 cents per ordinary share which is payable on 15 October 2019 to listed shareholders. Managing director Stephen Bagnarol said: “We continue to grow our core operations, driven by good growth in our retail lending and commercial portfolios.”

“Notwithstanding the challenging economic circumstances, loan losses on financial assets have declined by 1 per cent as we continue to exercise prudent risk management practices.”

“We continue to lead the way with our digital strategy. We have expanded our personalized notifications to customers on activity on their accounts to now include 22 alerts.” He said since the alerts were launched in November 2018, over 5,000,000 messages have been sent to customers.

The bank has also rolled out its new Intelligent Deposit Machines at 3 branches with plans underway to introduce IDM’s to other branches over the coming months.

The bank is also heavily focused on environmental sustainability which was put on display as part of the United Way Day of Caring initiative in May, some 1,000 employees, families and friends came out to care for the environment.

This year’s theme was focused on environmental sustainability and food security and involved activities such as coastal clean ups, planting of organic fruits and vegetables and environmental beautification.

Bagnarol also thanked the bank’s customers and employees for their “loyalty, trust and confidence” as it looks forward to a “strong close for 2019.”