type public company traded as tsx bns nyse bns ttse sbtt s & p tsx 60 component industry financial services founded 1832 ; 184 years ago 1832 halifax nova scotia canada headquarters toronto ontario canada 1 key people brian j. porter president and ceo sean mcguckin cfo revenue c 24.049 billion 2015 2 net income c 7.213 billion 2015 2 total assets c 856.497 billion 2015 2 number of employees 89 214 2015 2 subsidiaries scotiamocatta tangerine bank website scotiabank.com the bank of nova scotia french banque de la nouvelle cosse operating as scotiabank french banque scotia is a canadian multinational bank . it is the third largest bank in canada by deposits and market capitalization . it serves more than 23 million customers in over 55 countries around the world and offers a range of products and services including personal and commercial banking wealth management corporate and investment banking . with assets of 856.5 billion scotiabank shares trade on the toronto and new york stock exchanges . the bank was incorporated by the legislative assembly of nova scotia on march 30 1832 in halifax nova scotia with william lawson 1772 1848 serving as the first president . 3 the bank moved its executive offices to toronto ontario in march 1900 . 4 5 scotiabank has billed itself as canada s most international bank due to its acquisitions primarily in latin america and the caribbean and also in europe and india . through its subsidiary scotia mocatta it is a member of the london bullion market association and one of five banks that participates in the london gold fixing . 6 scotiabank s institution number or bank number is 002 . the company ranked at number 41 on the snl financial world s 100 biggest banks listing september 2013 7 and is under the leadership of president and ceo brian j. porter . contents 1 history and expansion 1.1 the 19th century 1.2 the 20th and 21st century 1.3 the 21st century 1.4 portfolio evolution 2 mergers and acquisitions 3 controversies 3.1 david berry 100m wrongful dismissal lawsuit 3.2 unpaid overtime lawsuit 3.3 fraud in mexico 4 operating units 5 corporate sponsorship and branding 5.1 sports 5.2 culture 5.3 corporate social responsibility 6 recent events 7 awards 8 unionization 9 credit agency ratings 10 membership 10.1 gallery 11 branch and office locations 12 sources 13 see also 14 references 15 external links history and expansion edit joseph howe portrait 1881 5 bill bank of nova scotia the 19th century edit william lawson 1st president of bank of nova scotia by robert field scotiabank was founded in halifax nova scotia in 1832 under the name of the bank of nova scotia . the bank intended to facilitate the trans atlantic trade of the time . 8 later in 1883 the bank of nova scotia acquired the union bank of prince edward island 9 although most of the bank s expansion efforts in the century took the form of branch openings . the bank launched its branch banking system by opening in windsor nova scotia . the expansion was limited to the maritimes until 1882 when the bank moved west by opening a branch in winnipeg manitoba . the manitoba branch later closed but the bank continued to expand into the american midwest . this included opening a branch in minneapolis in 1885 which later transferred to chicago in 1892 . following the collapse of the commercial bank of newfoundland and union bank of newfoundland on december 10 1894 ; the bank of nova scotia established on december 15 1894 in newfoundland 3 in 1899 the bank opened a branch in boston massachusetts . in the meantime the bank opened a branch in kingston jamaica in 1889 to facilitate the trading of sugar rum and fish . this was scotiabank s first move into the caribbean and historically the first branch of a canadian bank opened outside of the united states or the united kingdom . 8 9 by the end of the 19th century the bank was represented in all of the maritimes quebec ontario and manitoba . in 1900 the bank s headquarters were moved to toronto ontario . 9 the 20th and 21st century edit view of a scotiabank facade in amherst nova scotia . this structure was erected in 1907 . william d. lawrence ship carved into the bank of nova scotia building 1931 hollis street halifax nova scotia . the bank continued to expand in the 20th century although its growth now took the form of acquisitions rather than branch openings . 1906 the bank opened a branch in havana cuba . by 1931 it had five branches in havana and one branch each in camag ey cienfuegos manzanillo and santiago de cuba . in 1960 the government of cuba nationalized all banks in cuba and the scotiabank withdrew services from all eight branches . 1907 the bank opened a branch in new york city . 1910 the bank opened a branch in san juan puerto rico . 1913 the bank of nova scotia merged with the bank of new brunswick . 9 1914 toronto based metropolitan bank was acquired making scotiabank the fourth largest financial institution in canada . 9 1919 the bank opened a branch in fajardo . 1919 bank of ottawa was amalgamated . 9 1920 the bank opened a branch in london and another in santo domingo dominican republic . 1961 the bank became the first canadian bank to appoint women bank managers on september 11 1961 . 3 1962 the bank expanded into asia with the opening of a representative office in japan . 9 1978 the bank and canadian union of public employees signed the first collective agreement between a canadian bank and a union on september 28 1978 in toronto . 3 2000 scotiabank s stake in mexican bank grupo financiero inverlat is increased to 55 percent . the mexican bank is subsequently renamed to grupo financiero scotiabank inverlat . 9 2003 the bank s guangzhou branch was awarded the first licence to a canadian bank by the chinese government to deal in chinese currency . 3 2003 2004 the bank acquired inverlat banking house in mexico taking over all of its branches and establishing a strong presence in the country . 2010 the bank arrived in bogot . 2012 scotiabank enters into an agreement to acquire ing direct bank of canada from ing groep n.v. in its early expansion the bank clearly followed trade and its customers businesses rather than pursuing a strategy of expansion into international financial centres . scotiabank is a member of the global atm alliance a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their atm cards or check cards at certain other banks within the global atm alliance without fees when traveling internationally . other participating banks are barclays united kingdom bank of america united states bnp paribas france and ukraine through ukrsibbank deutsche bank germany and westpac australia and new zealand . 10 the 21st century edit one of the biggest challenges according to scotia s ceo rick waugh is electronic espionage . it is thought that china and russia engage in electronic spying and scotia has devoted enormous resources in its effort to protect the privacy of its customers . scotia has also spent almost 100 million implementing a controversial system to report to the united states the account holdings of close to one million canadians of american origin and their canadian born spouses . scotia has been forced to implement this system in order to comply with fatca . according to the financial post fatca requires canadian banks to provide information to the united states including total assets account balances account numbers transactions and more and includes assets held jointly with canadian born spouses and other family members . 11 12 see also fatca agreement between canada and the united states portfolio evolution edit scotiabank traded under ticker bns on tsx and nyse . throughout the 20th century the bank grew not only in size but also in breadth of products and services . progress was conditioned by changing consumer needs legal changes or acquisitions of external service providers . a short list follows 9 1954 passage of the national housing act led scotiabank to create a mortgage department . 1958 changes to bank act of 1954 enabled scotiabank to introduce a consumer credit program . 1986 scotia securities is formed to provide discount brokerage and security underwriting services . 1988 brokerage firm mcleod young weir ltd. is acquired . 1994 scotiabank acquires montreal trustco inc. 1997 national trustco inc. is acquired for c 1.25 billion . 2012 ing direct is acquired for c 3.13 billion renamed tangerine in april 2014 . mergers and acquisitions edit the bank has amalgamated with several other canadian financial institutions through the years and purchased several other banks overseas 5 13 bank year established year of amalgamation union bank of pei 1860 1883 summerside bank 1866 1901 bank of new brunswick 1820 1913 metropolitan bank of canada 1902 1914 the bank of ottawa 1874 1919 montreal trust 1889 1994 national trust 1898 1997 inverlat 1991 1992 scotiabank buys 5 % stake national bank of greece canada 1982 2005 banco wiesse sudameris 1920 2006 banco intercontinental 1986 2003 banco sudamericano 1991 1997 scotiabank acquires 25 % of peru s banco sudamericano e trade canada 1982 2008 dundeewealth 1998 2010 r g premier bank of puerto rico 1966 2010 nuevo banco comercial 2003 2011 ing direct canada 1997 2012 discount bank 2015 scotiabank buys discount bank uruguay many former branches of montreal trust and national trust were rebranded scotiabank & trust and continue to operate as such . controversies edit david berry 100m wrongful dismissal lawsuit edit in june 2005 david berry a very successful canadian scotiabank trader who had built a 75m year business in trading preferred shares was fired on the grounds that he had committed securities regulatory violations . 14 at the time as part of a 20 % direct drive deal he was making more than double the ceo s salary and scotiabank management had already taken steps to limit his compensation . 15 the regulatory violation allegations from his former employer left him unemployable to scotia s competitors despite the appeal of potentially adding more than 75m year to their equity trading profits . 15 documents delivered to the media showing that scotia management had sought advice on terminating berry prior to the investment industry regulatory organization of canada iiroc violation accusation and the results of questioning during the iiroc inquiries strongly suggest that the securities charges were part of a clever plan by scotiabank senior management to remove berry from his position and simultaneously prevent him from becoming their competitor . 16 in a ruling on january 15 2013 more than seven years after the initial accusation a hearing panel of the iiroc dismissed all charges against berry . 17 18 david berry has a filed a 100m wrongful dismissal lawsuit against scotiabank . as of january 2015 and nine years after berry was terminated scotia settled with berry on an amount that can not be disclosed . barry critchley who has been following the story since inception published an article on november 6 2014 in which he believes scotia s 55 million reported legal charges would likely be connected to the 100 million lawsuit ; but it s unlikely to be ever found out . 19 unpaid overtime lawsuit edit in 2014 a settlement deal in a class action lawsuit was reached . the agreement would cover thousands of workers for more than a decade of unpaid overtime.the lawsuit included 16 000 scotiabank employees across canada who worked as personal banking officers senior personal banking officers financial advisors and small business account managers from january 1 2000 to december 1 2013 . the lawsuit was filed in 2007 along with a similar class