Scotia records $119m Q2 profit

Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Ltd has recorded a $119 million profit for the second quarter ended April 2020 – $39 million or 25 per cent lower than the same period last year. Managing director Stephen Bagnarol noted the impact of covid19 on the bank’s performance. “We had good revenue performance as the economic shocks caused by the pandemic were not felt until later in the quarter.

The provisioned credit losses for the second quarter of 2020 resulted in a charge of $67 million compared to $39 million for the same period in the prior year. This charge for the quarter was primarily driven by an adverse shift in forward-looking economic scenarios related to covid19 impacting the performing loan portfolio,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

The bank is weathering the pandemic in a position of strength, he said and the underlying results of the bank were good. He added that the bank’s customer assistance programme has helped provide financial relief to over 64,000 customers. It has also implemented several policies to mitigate the spread of covid19 including having two-thirds of employees are working from home.

“We could not have predicted the seriousness or scale of the crisis we currently face, but our significant technology investments have enabled us to keep our customers and employees connected,” Bagnarol said. Year to date, Scotiabank has recorded income after tax of $262 million, $81 million or 24 per cent lower than last year’s $343 million.