In terms of the global economy, how has the crisis affected Canada and Scotiabank Jamaicas parent company?
Bowen says: “Everyone other than Canadians recognise that the Canadian economy has been one of the strongest in the world. The government there has been running budget surpluses for five or six years. I believe the government there has said that for the first year they’re going to have to move to a fiscal deficit. There was US$200 or US$300 million globally that BNS wrote off but that’s on the basis that we make about US$3-4 billion a year. Our strength globally is our diversity. We’ve got about a third of our business as Canadian banking business, a third that’s international and about a third that’s corporate investment banking. If there’s stress in one of those areas, another one’s holding up OK. Here, in Jamaica, we continue to report good profits.” Scotiabank autonomy Jamaicans always want to know to what extent Scotiabank here has autonomy from the bank in Canada, and to what extent does the local board have to go back to Canada for direction. “Wow,” he responds. “The way the ban
