At its annual shareholders' meeting on April 13, Scotiabank announced plans to begin a "digital transformation" and improve its productivity.

Scotiabank president and CEO Brian Porter said that the bank is working to position itself favourably for the future. In particular, the bank is changing its retail branch network and "moving toward digitally-enabled branch formats that will allow our employees to be more focused on providing financial advice and solutions". The new system is already being piloted in Mexico, and Porter indicated that it will debut shortly in Canada.

Wealth management services

In particular, the bank's digital transformation is meant to improve the speed and simplicity of its "onboarding process" for mortgages, credit cards, day-to-day accounts, and small companies. Scotiabank is also placing its wealth management services such as investment advice and estate planning on a single digital platform in order to “reduce silos and reduce pain points” for its customers.

Nimble and adaptive approaches

"As we embrace more innovative, nimble and adaptive approaches, the changes we are making will enable the Bank and our employees to better serve our customers," said Porter. "We believe they will also deliver good value to shareholders. Taken together, our efforts are positioning us for long-term growth and it will be an exciting time for our employees as we build an even better bank."