In June 2020, Scotiabank (formerly known as The Bank of NovaScotia), the Canadian multinational banking and financial servicescompany with assets of over $1.2 trillion and approximately 97,000employees, received the Retail Banking Security Innovation of theYear Award from Retail Banker International (RBI). This award wasin recognition of Scotiabank’s use of digital technologies tocreate a financial crimes risk management program. Over the years,Scotiabank had been at the forefront of using digital technologieslike Smart Automation in its banking operations and customerservice. That helped the bank to improve its customer service andcontrol online frauds. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept through theworld, the biggest challenge for banks like Scotiabank was toprovide continuous support to customers and employees to ensureuninterrupted banking. With the help of Smart Automation,Scotiabank continued to offer its products and services such asmortgage, direct deposits, and loans online. A note on Scotiabank,on March 30, 1832, the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia formedthe first public financial institution in the city of Halifax, NovaScotia, Canada, under the name The Bank of Nova Scotia. WilliamLawson became the first president of the bank. In August 1832, thebank was officially opened and it focused on establishing a foreignexchange business with agents in New York, London, and Boston,while local agencies and the main office at Halifax concentrated onoffering loans. From 1832 to 1881, the bank grew slowly and facedincreasing competition from existing institutions like CanadianImperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).Since 2015, Scotiabank had spent $10.7 billion on technology. Atthe end of 2015, it partnered with fintech start-ups to embracedigital banking. In 2017, it launched Scotiabank Digital Factory, adigital production facility, to improve customers’ experience inseveral areas such as mobile and digital banking transactions,account openings, loan adjudication, and mortgage lending. InOctober 2018, Scotiabank partnered with CGI Inc. to promoteIntelligence Automation. This helped the bank achieve digitaltransformation by empowering trade finance operations andcompliance and relationship management with the digitization ofpaper document flows. Scotiabank’s huge technology spend over theprevious five years had left it prepared to deal with any crisissituation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank took severalmeasures to support both employees and customers during the crisis.It joined hands with government to provide support to Canadianbusinesses impacted by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,introduced the Payment Deferral Process, Direct Deposit of Cheques,Faster Mortgage Deferral Process, Business Continuity Plan,Employee and client communications, and Digital Banking forseniors. Along with its precautionary measures, Scotiabank improvedits digital banking offerings by introducing new efficientAutomated Teller Machines (ATMs), Intelligent Deposit Machines thatallowed customers immediate access to their deposits, introductionof new transaction and security alerts, and the addition of creditcard controls. That resulted in growth of its online and mobilebanking offerings. By the end of May 2020, the InternationalBanking segment of Scotiabank had processed over 2 million CAPapplications on loans totaling US$ 20 billion. Its digitalcapabilities in the Pacific Alliance resulted in approximately 80%of CAP applications being enrolled via digital Omni channel tools.To support small businesses and corporate clients, the bankprovided additional loans of over US$ 45 billion. Its digitalbanking solutions were adopted by more than 140,000 customers. Thatresulted in an increase in digital transactions by 50% compared tothe previous year. The bank saw strong growth in its digitalsubsidiary Tangerine and online discount brokerage iTrade.

Question 2.

Other than technology solutions, what are the possible key areasto consider by the banks’ as their strategies to fight againstCOVID-19 crisis. (50 marks)

Please do not copy & paste the answers fromother sources and please write an essay that worth 50marks.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Bnks need to fight covid by diversification into new bus... View the full answer