Digital shift cuts Scotiabank’s costs

Article Excerpt

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $79 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $94.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) continues to expand its Internet and mobile banking operations. It expects to spend $1.3 billion on these initiatives over the next three years. As part of this plan, the bank will also close 5% of its branches in the next two years. Focusing more on digital services should let Bank of Nova Scotia cut its productivity ratio from 53.7% for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2016, to 50.0% for fiscal 2021. (Productivity ratio is calculated by dividing non-interest expenses, such as salaries and rental costs, by revenue. The lower the ratio, the better.) Bank of Nova Scotia is a buy. buy…