Bank of Nova Scotia
Bank of Nova Scotia, Head Offices, WikiMedia.org

With branches across Canada and customers in more than 50 countries, the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) is among the world’s 25 largest banks. Its net income in 2017 totalled US$7.9 billion,10 making it one of the top financial institutions in Canada.

Why the top 50?

Like the other large banks in our Top 50, Scotiabank’s role in financing fossil fuel development in Canada enables the industry to continue producing carbon-based energy. Scotiabank’s Commodity Derivatives group, which boasts a “tremendous energy footprint” in the Americas and Europe, provides an inroad for this activity by financing energy commodity production and by selling energy commodity derivatives.11

Key Stats

Head office: Toronto, Canada

Countries of operation: Canada, US, Mexico, Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, among others 12

Revenues: US$24.9 billion (2017)13

Assets: US$915 billion (2017)14

Employees: 88,00015

In Depth
Ownership

Shareholder Country Ownership
Total (%)
Royal Bank of Canada CA 8.34
Toronto-Dominion Bank CA 4.43
BMO Global Asset Management Inc. US 4.02
Bank of Montreal CA 3.77
Power Corporation of Canada CA 3.54
Bank of Nova Scotia (self-owned) CA 3.36
TD Asset Management Inc. US 3.24
Vanguard Group Inc. US 2.50
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CA 2.23
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec CA 1.79
Province of Québec CA 1.72
CIBC World Markets Inc. US 1.66
IG Investment Management Ltd. CA 1.63
Jarislowky Fraser Ltd. CA 1.40
Beutel, Goodman & Co. CA 1.30
Wellington Management Group LLP. US 1.28
Manulife Financial Corp. CA 1.22
Norway NO 1.06
Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group Ltd. CA 1.04
Beutel Goodman CA 1.03

Included are all shareholdings of 1% and greater. Source: Orbis Database, October 2018.

Strategy

Like other large institutions, Scotiabank pursues various in-house measures in an effort to reduce its environmental impact. These include a plan to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent (from 2016 levels) by 2021.1 In 2016 Scotiabank joined the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, a voluntary organization of governments, corporations and civil society groups that advocates for various forms of market-based carbon pricing, such as carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems.

With the other big Canadian banks, Scotiabank is a signatory to the Equator Principles, a framework for determining whether potential business activities (e.g., financing) impinge on the protection of natural habitats or Indigenous rights. The bank’s 2016 annual report states: “Consistent with the Equator Principles, to which the Bank is a signatory, the Bank provides project finance loans and project-related corporate loans only to those projects” that are “developed in a socially responsible manner and according to sound environmental management practices.”2 Despite these commitments, its grade from CDP (the Carbon Disclosure Projecta global disclosure program for corporations that tracks their environment impact) is poor. Scotiabank received a C in 2018.3

According to its website, Scotiabank prioritizes “making investments in sustainable solutions and lending in a way that mitigates social and environmental risk.”4 However, to date, performance in this area is lacking. According to the 2018 Banking on Climate Change report, Scotiabank earns a consistent D– across its portfolio of loans to extreme energy development, which total almost C$10 billion since 2015. Loans for 2017 included $316 million in deep-sea oil—more than any of Canada’s other large banks—and $3 billion in oil sands.5 Finally, the bank was also an early enabler of the Trans Mountain pipeline, helping to fund the 2016 initial public offering6—another indication that its social and environmental commitments may not be prioritized.

In addition to lending commitments, Scotiabank holds significant shares in large Canadian and international fossil fuel firms. The table below shows the bank’s top 15 shareholdings in fossil fuel companies, through its funds.

Company Name Country Ownership Total (%)
PINNACLE GAS RESOURCES INC. US > 50.00
VERMILION ENERGY INC. CA 6.28
PEMBINA PIPELINE CORP. CA 5.60
ENGIE ENERGIA PERU SA PE 5.00
FORTIS INC. CA 4.77
CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES LTD. CA 3.72
ENBRIDGE INC. CA 3.22
NEXGEN ENERGY LTD. CA 2.97
CRESCENT POINT ENERGY CORP. CA 2.90
PIERIDAE ENERGY LTD. CA 2.67
TORC OIL & GAS LTD. CA 2.52
TRANSCANADA CORP. CA 2.41
GRUPO ENERGIA BOGOTA SA ESP CO 2.26
BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY LTD. CA 2.06
ENERPLUS CORP. CA 1.69

Source: Orbis Database, February 2019.

Controversy

A February 2018 Scotiabank report titled Pipeline Approval Delays: The Costs of Inaction has been traced to the Canadian government’s politicization of the need for increased pipeline capacity in Canada in order to protect the Canadian economy. Sourced from the bank’s Global Economics division, the report stated that “pipeline approval delays have imposed clear, demonstrable and substantial economic costs on the Canadian economy. If maintained at current levels, the discount on Western Canadian oil would shave C$15.6 billion in revenue annually from the sector.”7 The amount was ultimately determined to be less than half — only $7 billion8—but not before the prime minister, natural resources minister and premier of Alberta used the inflated value to advocate for pipeline expansion.

The pipeline in question—the Trans Mountain expansion—was recently put on hold when the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the National Energy Board failed to adequately consult with First Nations along its proposed route. Scotiabank was one of five Canadian banks to support parent company Kinder Morgan Canada’s financing effort via the initial public offering; Scotiabank pledged to invest C$639 million.9

Network Map

Learn more about the Bank of Nova Scotia at LittleSis.org

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About the database

The intent of the Corporate Mapping Project database is to engage Canadians in a conversation about the role of the fossil fuel sector in our democracy, by “mapping” how power and influence play out in the oil, gas and coal industries of BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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  1. “Environment,” Scotiabank, accessed April 2nd, 2017, https://www.scotiabank.com/corp/downloads/FactSheet_Environment_EN.pdf.
  2. Scotiabank, Banking the Real Economy: 2016 Annual Report, http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/files/16/11/BNS_Annual_Report_-_2016.pdf.
  3. “CDP: Bank of Nova Scotia.” CDP, 2019. https://www.cdp.net/en/responses/1470.
  4. “Environment,” Scotiabank.
  5. Rainforest Action Network et al., Banking on Climate Change: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2018, March 28, 2018, http://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/rainforestactionnetwork/pages/19540/attachments/original/1525099181/Banking_on_Climate_Change_2018_vWEB.pdf?1525099181.

  6. Tucker McLachlan and Chris Hatch, “Who’s Banking on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline?,” National Observer, July 21, 2017,  https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/07/21/analysis/whos-banking-kinder-morgans-trans-mountain-pipeline.
  7. Scotiabank, Pipeline Approval Delays: The Costs of Inaction, February 20, 2018, https://www.gbm.scotiabank.com/scpt/gbm/scotiaeconomics63/pipeline_approval_delays_2018-02-20.pdf
  8. Robyn Allan,  “Debunking the $15 Billion Benefit Myth around the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion,” The Province, May 30, 2018, https://theprovince.com/opinion/op-ed/robyn-allan-debunking-the-15-billion-benefit-myth-around-the-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion.
  9. McLachlan and Hatch, “Who’s Banking.”
  10. Scotiabank, Building the Economy of Everyone: 2017 Annual Report, http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/files/17/11/BNS_Annual_Report_-_2017.pdf
  11. The term “derivative” refers to a complex financial instrument. “Energy Commodities,” Scotiabank, accessed via the Wayback Machine for  September 12 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170912105714/http://www.gbm.scotiabank.com/Products&Services/Commodities/PR_EnergyCommodities.htm.
  12. “Wherever Business Takes You,” Scotiabank, March 29th 2019, http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/0,,12573,00.html.
  13. Scotiabank, Building the Economy.
  14. Scotiabank, Building the Economy.
  15. Scotiabank, Building the Economy.