Canada's international bank Scotiabank has completed a previously announced acquisition of 97.44% stake in Dominican Republic-based Banco Dominicano del Progreso.
Image: Scotiabank completes Banco Dominicano del Progreso transaction. Photo: courtesy of Scotiabank.com.
The acquisition was wrapped up by Scotiabank after securing regulatory approval from the Superintendency of Banks and the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic.
The deal was signed in August 2018 by the Canadian multi-national bank in a move to become the fourth largest full-service bank in Dominican Republic in terms of assets.
The acquisition is also expected to help the Canadian bank become the fourth-largest loans provider in the Dominican Republic with a market share of 10%.
Scotiabank also expects to double its customer base through the transaction from about 250,000 to 500,000 and gain a third-place ranking in the credit card segment in the Caribbean country with a 17% share of the market.
Banco Dominicano del Progreso’s operations include 57 branches, 184 automated banking machines (ABMs) and over 160 banking sub-agents, serving over 250,000 personal and commercial banking customers.
Scotiabank Dominican Republic CEO Gonzalo Parral said: “We are excited to have completed this transaction that is fueled by the strategy of gaining greater scale in economically stable markets with prospects for growth, and allows us to expand and strengthen our operations in the country. We are building a leaner, more modern digital bank, to continue improving our customers’ experience with enhanced financial services and products.”
The Canadian multi-national bank also announced the closing of the previously announced CAD$130m ($97.8m) acquisition of a 51% stake in Banco Cencosud after securing regulatory approval from Peruvian authorities.
Banco Cencosud is a provider of credit cards and consumer loans in Peru. Scotiabank and Banco Cencosud will manage the credit card operations jointly and provide other products and services to customers in partnership for 15 years.
The transaction is said to help the Canadian banking company become the second largest credit card issuer in Peru.
Scotiabank Peru CEO & country head Miguel Uccelli said: “Partnering with Cencosud has been a rewarding process in which we have begun to leverage the potential of the consumer finance business.
“With this acquisition we have completed one more phase in our strategy to strengthen our consumer financing and credit card business in Peru, which aligns with our global vision to increase scale in the countries of the Pacific Alliance; Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.”
Last week, the Canadian banking giant reported first quarter net income of C$2.24bn ($1.69bn) compared to $2.33bn ($1.75bn) in the same period last year.