New strategy sets up BNS for growth

Article Excerpt

Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a 14.9% stake in U.S.-banking firm KeyCorp (New York symbol KEY) in an effort to pivot away from its underperforming Latin American markets. KeyCorp provides a variety of financial services through 1,000 branches in 15 states. The bank also transferred its operations in Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama to banking firm Davivienda. In return, it received a 20% equity stake in Davivienda, which has 24.6 million clients in Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama, as well as Miami, Florida. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, $73.13, is a buy. The lender (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $91.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 6.0%; www.scotiabank.com) is Canada’s third-largest bank. Due to the increasing economic uncertainty over tariffs, Bank of Nova Scotia’s provisions for potential loan losses rose 38.8% in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, ended April 30, 2025, to $1.40 billion from $1.01 billion a year earlier. If you exclude all one-time items, the bank’s…