Scotiabank targets Barbados in private wealth thrust

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 24, 2008 - Barbados has become the first island in the eastern Caribbean region, and the fourth in the entire Caribbean, to be earmarked for a private client centre as part of Scotiabank's new worldwide rollout of wealth management service centres.

This initiative, which is being led by Dan Wright, Scotia's senior vice president for international wealth in Canada, is expected to result in 25 centres in 18 countries in the initial phase.

Barbados comes after The Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic, and will be followed shortly by the Turks & Caicos and El Salvador.

The Scotia Private Client Group (as the centre is called) was officially launched last night to some of Barbados' most successful business leaders at a cocktail reception and dinner at the upscale Sandy Lane Golf and Country Club in the parish of St James.

During the launch, managing director for Barbados and the eastern Caribbean Stephen Cozier admitted that they were following in the wake of other commercial banks on the island with already established private banking and wealth management services. However, he said this formed more of an advantage than a disadvantage.

"It allows us to do it right, to see where the mistakes others have made, and also the opportunity to see where the real opportunities exist in the market. Ultimately we really are intent on providing a high quality product to a fairly select group through the Scotia Private Client Group because our intention then is to manage our relationships with the rest of the client base through our traditional banking infrastructure where we think we've also developed a pretty good product offering," he said.

Cozier and director of the new Barbados centre Kevin Workman both cited Barbados' growing wealth base, its thriving international business sector, and economic and political stability as factors in Scotia's decision to include this concept in their range of product offerings on the island.

The Barbados private client centre, which is located in Scotia's offices on the third floor of the International Trading Centre in Warrens in the parish of St. Michael, offers private banking services; a range of investment tools covering fixed income, equities, funds and structured products; and advisory services.

Source:
http://www.caribbean360.com/News/Business/Stories/2008/04/24/NEWS0000005750.html