Having already established brokerages in Mexico, Peru and Chile, Scotiabank is now launching an equities brokerage operation in Colombia.

On July 16th, Scotiabank announced the opening of its Scotia Securities office in Bogota. Juan Camargo will be head of local equities and general manager of the new Colombian brokerage, while Andrea Gonzalez and Jorge Cruz will serve as institutional sales traders for Latin America.

With the opening of this new office, Scotiabank now has locations in all of the countries that are members of the Mercado Integrado Latinoamericano (MILA).

"At Scotiabank, our primary focus in Latin America is the four countries that comprise the Pacific Alliance: Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Chile," comments Pruyn Haskins, managing director and head of global equity at Scotiabank. "Individually, each of these countries has attractive economic fundamentals and growth prospects. Together, these countries have 208 million people and account for almost 40% of GDP in the region, and 50% of trade."