COSTA RICA NEWS — The Canadian-based Scotiabank warns that it’s cutting the equivalent of 1,500 jobs companywide — about two-thirds of them in Canada — and the closure of 120 branches among a number of accounting measures that will cut about CA$341 million from its profit for the fourth quarter.
The announcement from Toronto did not indicate how it will affect operations in Costa Rica.
Scotiabank began operations in Costa Rica in 1995. Currently it employs 1.200 and is the country’s largest private bank following the 2006 acquisition of Corporacion Interfin, the parent of Banco Interfin, then Costa Rica’s largest private bank, for almost US$300 million dollars.
In Central America, Scotiabank is present in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. In South America, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela,
Last August, Scotiabank president and CEO Brian Porter said the bank was continuing to work on increasing its presence in Central and South America.
“Today’s announcement is a result of making some difficult but necessary decisions to support our long-term goals,” Porter told the Toronto Star Tuesday morning.
Despite the magnitude of the announcement, the bank said it remains on track to meet its 2014 financial objectives. Like Canada’s other major banks, Scotiabank has been extremely profitable — with a total $5.57 billion of net profit in the first three quarters of 2014.
Sources: Scotiabankcr.com; Toronto Star; El Financiero (Costa Rica)
