Scotia Group Jamaica Limited (SGJ) has become one of the largest mortgage players in Jamaica as its consolidated mortgage book grew by 26 per cent from $77.15 billion in the last year to an estimated $97.21 billion in what was the financial conglomerate’s best year on record as its net profit surged 17 per cent to $20.16 billion.

SGJ’s net loan book grew by 16 per cent from $268.83 billion to $312.76 billion as at October 31, 2024, which is the first time the group’s loan book surpassed $300 billion. This was underpinned by its banking subsidiary Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited (BNSJ) which experienced a 12 per cent rise in credit cards, 11 per cent improvement in commercial loans and personal loans by 13 per cent. BNSJ adjusted their headline rates on all loans in March ranging from 24 – 200 basis points with mortgages at 8.99 per cent, one of the cheapest rates amongst other deposit-taking institutions (DTIs).

The rise in Scotia’s consolidated mortgage book has been very rapid compared to 2019 when it was worth $37.34 billion. The mortgage book has been growing by at least 25 per cent each year for the last three years and has been due to a mixture of their customer base seeking financing and customers from other banks switching their mortgages. Apart from the National Housing Trust, the other large mortgage lenders are VM Building Society. which had $97.93 billion in December 2023 and JN Bank Limited with a $92.71 billion in March 2024.

“Because of our strategy for client primacy where we are now leaning into having financial conversations with our clients to understand their needs, we’re finding that the need to own a home is one of the top priorities for our clients. So, we are able to tap into that need because we can fund it, offer competitive rates and we’ve spent a lot of time looking at how we process mortgages. So, we’re able to meet the client needs in terms of a turnaround time for that [process]. Our bankers are having conversations with the clients who are part of their portfolio and so, clients are overwhelmingly choosing to do business with us,” said Audrey Tugwell Henry, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Scotia Group Limited at the Q4 media briefing on Friday.

Her comment on client primacy come from the strategy set by The Bank of Nova Scotia in Canada, which is run by CEO Scott Thompson. Thompson unveiled a four-pillar strategy last December which includes ‘grow and scale in priority businesses’, earn primary client relationships’, ‘make it easy to do business with us’ and ‘win as on team”. Part of the making business easy strategy for the international banking segment includes regionalising the business model as they move from a country to segment strategy. That was realised during the year in Jamaica when BNSJ lent TT$119.92 million ($2.74 billion) to Trinidadian outfit Agostini’s Limited to acquire Health Brands Limited in Jamaica.

Scotiabank has also renewed insurance as a global priority with the Jamaican insurance segment improving revenue 19 per cent to $5.33 billion while profit before tax grew 24 per cent to $4.80 billion. This was due to the improvement of inforce book of business and creditor life growth for the life insurance arm while Scotia General Insurance Agency (Scotia Protect) improved revenues by 230 per cent as they became GK General Insurance Limited’s top agency.

Scotiabank has also placed a greater emphasis on client acquisition through digital means for the international banking segment which it has set a 50 per cent target by 2028 versus the 16 per cent figure for 2024. In Jamaica, clients using the mobile application were able to access Scotia Access which allows for a secure channel to speak to individuals across the different subsidiaries and also electronically sign documents through e-consent. The mobile app is also set to receive additional features in the future to make accessing different products and services even easier.

BNSJ also intends to offer Apple Pay to Jamaicans next year and allow for wire transfers online as well. This is in addition to refreshing their 292 ABM fleet with another 58 new ABMs to be added in the upcoming year.

The 14.4 per cent rise in assets under management allowed for Scotia Investments Jamaica to report earnings which were marginally down year over year in what is a tough market for many securities dealers.

Total operating income for Q4 grew 16 per cent to $15.70 billion while consolidated net profit increased 32 per cent to $6.16 billion. For the full year, SGJ’s net interest income rose 17 per cent to $46.30 billion while total operating income improved 11 per cent to $59.12 billion. Profit before tax was up 17 per cent to $29.70 billion while earnings per share increased 17 per cent to $6.48.

Total assets for Scotia Group grew six per cent from $664.74 billion to $705.02 billion with investment securities at $184.47 billion and $160.75 billion. Total liabilities grew five per cent to $566.55 billion with deposits rising to $479.14 billion while shareholders equity grew nine per cent to $138.47 billion. SGJ was also given a licence as a financial holding company by the Bank of Jamaica on July 24.

SGJ’s stock price closed at $51.03 on Friday, which not only meant that the stock was up by a third in 2024 but is also up 47 per cent over the last year when it traded at $34.62. This left the company with a market capitalisation of $158.78 billion to become the most valuable Jamaican company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) by market cap and dethroning Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited and NCB Financial Group Limited. It is also the second-largest company by market capitalisation after Massy Holdings Limited by only $1.55 billion but was the largest company on the JSE at the end of Thursday when it closed at $54.45 and was worth $169.43 billion. Scotia Group’s stock price also peaked at $54.95 on Wednesday, which hasn’t since March 2020 when COVID-19 sent asset prices diving.

SGJ also declared a $0.45 dividend totalling $1.40 billion to be paid on January 24 to shareholders on record as of January 2. This brings the total dividend payments up to $1.70 for 2024. Scotia Group also took home several awards at the JSE Best Practice Awards on December 3 including the Governor General’s Award for Excellence on the Main Market.

Over the last year, Sagicor Pooled Equity Fund and The National Insurance Fund (NIF) have collectively bought 5.4 million shares of SGJ while Director Audrey Richards bought an additional 18,000 shares. Yvett Anderson, VP of customer experience, sold 88,047 shares while Scotia Investments Jamaica head Sabrina Cooper finally became a shareholder with the purchase of 53,000 shares. Tricia Davies, Yanique Forbes-Patrick, Perrin Gayle, Nadine Heywood, Horace Mair, Marcette Mcleggon, Morris Nelson, and Adrian Reynolds all bought shares.

Gayle, Cooper and Debra Lopez-Spence were all given expanded responsibilities for Scotiabank across the Caribbean over the last three months. This is on top of SGJ chair Anya Schnoor being appointed to a new role to lead global insurance for Scotiabank on November 1.

“Client primacy is the way because we recognise the value that we can bring to our clients and not just in Jamaica, but globally. We offer all the financial service products that our clients need. So, we have different business areas and units. In Jamaica, it’s very obvious because we have them established as independent subsidiaries. So, just building that deep client relationship will continue to be key and digital offerings. So, you can expect to see more of that in the coming not just 2025, but in 2026 as well. Of course, there’s a secret sauce to the magic in Scotiabank which is our team. We’re very much focused on continuing to grow our business,” the CEO closed.