Year: 2022
Winner: Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago
Outperforming the market with strong digital tailwinds
Investment in digital banking and strong credit growth are paying off for Scotiabank Trinidad
and Tobago (TT).
In the nine months to July, Scotiabank TT, which wins the award for Bank of the Year –
Trinidad & Tobago, posted profits of 521 million local dollars, a 13% increase over the same
period of 2021. The credit business went from strength to strength in the wake of the
pandemic, with consumer lending up by 7.5%, compared to 4% to the overall market, while
the ratio of non-accrual loans to total loans was kept below 3%.
CEO Gayle Pazos puts it succinctly: “Scotiabank TT has outperformed the market in retail
lending.”
But the bank is not resting on its laurels, and investments in modernization are under way to
keep up with market trends.
Pazos says that customers’ preferences are changing rapidly, and what they want right now is
to have quick, easy and safe banking solutions for their needs.
“A lot of digital optionality flowing into the market allows customers to bank the way they
want to bank,” Pazos says. “Our digital mandate has helped us to customize relationships in
terms of lending, deposits and payments, to provide a better customer experience and to
manage our operational costs.”
Scotiabank TT has developed tools to leverage data analytics and offer more personalized
products. Digitalization has had a clear effect on the operational side, as more than 96% of all
transactions are now made digitally.
The bank has also started to offer loans and deposits via the digital channel, which already
accounts for 27% to 30% of all business in those areas.
The digital tools are developed by Scotiabank’s Caribbean, Central America and Uruguay
division, a subset of the Canadian bank’s international operations. With that support, the
Trinidad and Tobago unit has been able to offer enhanced security and accessibility features
like biometric sign-in through fingerprint and face recognition. Digital onboarding via the
bank’s app or website takes 15 minutes, compared to 60 minutes in a branch, which
exemplifies the gains in efficiency provided by the digitalization efforts.
“Digital onboarding is much cheaper than traditional channels. And digitalization has helped
us to bring our efficiency ratios from 40% to 38%,” Pazos says.