Scotiabank CEO Brian Porter speaks to media during the company’s annual general meeting in Kelowna, B.C., April 8, 2014.BEN NELMS/Reuters
Nearly six months into his new role, Bank of Nova Scotia chief executive officer Brian Porter laid out a strategy that emphasizes growing the lender's Latin American business, and focuses on developing internal talent.
Mr. Porter isn't looking to make any radical changes – "we've got the big picture right," he told the audience at the bank's annual general meeting in Kelowna, B.C. – but there is room for improvement, he said, adding that the company needs to focus on specific regions.
The comments marked the first time Mr. Porter, who is known for being cerebral and a deep-thinker, spoke at length about where he would like to take the bank.
At the moment, Scotiabank's international operations are divided among Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Asia. For the time being the "primary emphasis is on Latin America," Mr. Porter said – particularly Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Chile, whose relatively young and well-educated populations need banking services.
His comments cleared the air about where the bank will deploy its capital. Over the past few years Scotiabank looked at ways to expand in Asia, and there were questions about how important that region would be to the bank's global growth. Investors have also been wary of the bank's international footprint, as emerging markets took a beating early in 2014.
Domestically, Scotiabank has already made it well-known that it will continue to focus on wealth management, and to expand in credit cards. Mr. Porter doubled down on these areas at the AGM – especially the latter.
"You should expect to see meaningful growth in our Canadian credit card business over the next several years," he said. There is already speculation that Scotiabank could team up with Canadian Tire, which has publicly announced it is looking for a financial institution to be its credit card partner.
Mr. Porter is also intent on developing internal talent, and on diversifying the employee pool to match Scotiabank's international client base. To do that, he will hire and promote a more diverse group of employees, and invest in leadership development training.
The strategy will take time to unfold, and Mr. Porter stressed that "real and lasting shareholder value" can't be created in a single quarter. He also isn't sure whether it can be done in a year. For that reason, the bank has shifted its financial results objectives from annual valuations – the way in which Scotiabank's rivals among the Big Six banks still measure themselves – to "medium-term" check-ups.
The bank's AGM was the last for outgoing chair John Mayberry, who will be replaced by Tom O'Neill.
Tim Kiladze