My Bank of Nova Scotia Scotiabank Internet Banking Review

The Bank of Nova Scotia is the third largest Canadian bank and financial institution by market capitalization and deposit. The Bank of Nova Scotia is also known as Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse in French. The bank is typically known as Scotiabank in English and Banque Scotia in French. The Scotia Bank was established in 1832 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The current headquarter is located at Toronto, OntarioCanada. Richard E. Waugh is the Scotiabank CEO and president. Scotiabank is well known as Canada's most international bank.

The Bank of Nova Scotia had >18 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world with total assets of >C$500 billion and total deposits of >C$360 billion. The company had 2,780+ branches and offices and 5,900+ automated banking machines located throughout North America, Europe, Central America, Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Asia. The Bank of Nova Scotia stock is publicly listed at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS), Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE: SBTT). The Bank of Nova Scotia is also a member of Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation CDIC). The maximum basic insurance protection for eligible deposits is $100,000 per depositor.

Scotiabank offers a diverse range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate, and investment banking. Scotiabank has expanded very rapidly in various international market. These sectors include Domestic Banking, Wealth Management, Scotia Capital. and International Banking.

Merger and Acquisition

The following is the recent major M/A completed by Scotiabank

• Inverlat (Mexico) in 2003
• National Bank of Greece (Canada) in 2005
• Banco Wiesse Sudameris (Peru) in 2007
• Banco Sudamericano (Peru) in 2007
• E*TRADE Canada in 2008
• DundeeWealth Inc in 2011

There are 4 main divisions of personal banking products and services

• Day to Day Banking: chequing account or checking account, Savings account, Students account, senior plan, western union money transfer, and other plan banking services
• Investing products: self managed brokerage, full service brokerage, mutual funds, GICs, RSPs, TFSA, RESPs, RDSPs, and more
• Borrowing Services: Scotia Mortgages, Scotia Total Equity Plan, Credit Cards, Line of Credit (LOC), Chip Technology and more
• Scotiabank Insurance: General Insurance, Travel insurance, creditor insurance, mortgage protection, line of credit protection, ScotiaLife Financial, and more

There are 5 Scotiabank chequing accounts

1. Basic Banking Account – $3.95 per month, 12 debit transactions include 4 teller-assisted transactions
2. Basic Banking Plan – $8.95 monthly fee waived with $2,000 minimum daily balance, include 25 debit transactions
3. Powerchequing Account – $3.95 per month waived with $1,000 min. daily balance, 12 debit transactions
4. Scotia One Account – $11.95 monthly fee waived with $3,000 minimum daily balance, unlimited debit transactions or cheques
5. Scotia Value Account – $14.95 monthly fee, 50 debit transaction, include additional no charge services and discounted banking services

Scotia Savings Accounts

Scotiabank offers a wide selection of savings account include

• Scotia Power Savings Account – No monthly fee, competitive interest rate, free online services, $5 / transaction for other debit transactions
• Scotia Gain Plan – No monthly fee, $1.25 per each debit transaction
• Money Master Savings Account - No monthly fee, competitive interest rate, free online services, $5 / transaction for other debit transactions
• Daily Interest Savings – No monthly fee, $1.25 per each debit transaction, daily interest and monthly payment
• Scotia U.S. Dollar Daily Interest Account – $1 monthly fee waived with US$200 minimum balance, include 2 debit transaction, $0.60 extra for additional transactions
• Scotia Euro Daily Interest Savings Account - €1 monthly fee waived with Euro €200 minimum balance

Most of Scotia Credit Cards are Visa branded cards. The following are popular Scotia Credit Cards

• Travel Credit Cards: ScotiaGold Passport Visa credit card – $110 annual fee, earn 1 Scotia Rewards per $1 spent, 5% cash back on travel purchased through Scotia Rewards, $5,000 min credit limit
• Cash Back Credit Card: Scotia Momentum Visa card - $39 annual fee, 2% cash back on gas, groceries, recurring payment and drug store purchase, 1% for all other purchases
• Rewards Credit Card: ScotiaHockey Visa credit card - $49 annual fee, earn 1 ScotiaHockey Rewards point per $1 spent, redeem points for exclusive NHL hockey
• No annual fee credit card: No Fee Moneyback Visa card (1% Moneyback reward every year on purchases, $500 min credit limit), No-Fee ScotiaGold Visa (include rental car Collision insurance, up to 20% Avis Car Rental discount)
• Low rate credit card: Scotiabank Value Visa card (11.49% interest rate on balance, $29 annual fee), ScotiaLine VISA card (no annual fee, competitive interest rate on balance, >$20,000 credit limit)
• Student credit card: L´earn VISA credit card (no annual fee, 1% moneyback every year on purchase)

Internet Banking is part of Scotia Electronic Banking features. Electronic banking includes variety of banking services such as internet banking, telephone banking, and Automated Banking Machines (ABMs). You can access Scotia Internet Banking by logon to www.scotiabank.com or www.scotiaonline.scotiabank.com

You will need to activate your Scotia OnLine to access your online banking. Customer can complete this process online through Scotiabank website. With Scotia OnLine, you can do the following financial transactions:

• Access to your Scotiabank account anytime and anywhere for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week
• Get a consolidated view of all your accounts with Scotiabank
• Get Up-to-the-minute your account balance & transaction details
• Setup paperless statement recordkeeping for your account statement
• Send money using Western Union Money Transfer around the world
• Send money to or receive money from anyone with Canadian bank account using Interac e-transfer (interact email money transfer)
• Open a new deposit account online
• view up to 18 months of financial transaction activity of various accounts
• Download your financial transaction information to your financial software such as Microsoft Money or Quicken
• View, update, and apply your mortgage details, including account balance, interest rate, and maturity date
• Request for a limit increase on Scotiabank VISA credit card or ScotiaLine credit
• Check and update information about your Scotia GIC or Scotia Mutual Fund accounts
• Access to various planning tools for budgeting, debt reduction, home mortgage, investment mix and more
• Execute any trade transaction to buy Canadian or US equities and mutual funds

Scotiabank offers several investment products such as GICs, High Interest Savings Accounts, Mutual Funds, and Precious Metals. The mutual funds offered by Scotia Bank are known as ScotiaFunds. There are many different asset classes being offered such as

• Cash Equivalent Funds: Scotia T-Bill Fund, Scotia Money Market Fund, Scotia U.S. $ Money Market Fund
• Income Funds: Scotia Mortgage Income Fund, Scotia Bond Fund, Scotia Canadian Income Fund
• Balanced Funds: Scotia Diversified Monthly Income Fund, Scotia Canadian Balanced Fund, Scotia Global Balanced Fund
• Equity Funds: Scotia Canadian Dividend Fund, Scotia Canadian Growth Fund, Scotia Canadian Small Cap Fund, Scotia U.S. Growth Fund, Scotia European Fund, Scotia Global Dividend Fund
• Index Funds: Scotia Canadian Bond Index Fund, Scotia U.S. Index Fund, Scotia International Index Fund
• Portfolio: Scotia Vision Conservative 2010 Portfolio, Scotia Selected Balanced Income & Growth Portfolio, Scotia Partners Portfolios, Scotia Innova Balanced Income Portfolio

Note: With the recent announced merger with DundeeWealth (Dynamic Funds), Scotiabank will become #5 mutual funds company in Canada.

There are 4 main investment services include ScotiaMcLeod, Scotia Private Client Group, Scotia McLeod Direct Investing, and Scotia iTrade.

Scotia McLeod Direct Investing

Scotia McLeod Direct Investing offer different type of investment products such as stock trades, etf trades, mutual fund trades, option trades, fixed income trades and money market trades. The Scotia McLeod Direct Investing commission is as follow:

• Scotia Direct Service - $28.5 per trade (up to 1,000 shares)
• Scotia Active Service - $14.95 per trade (30-89 trades/quarter) and $8.95 per trade (90+ trades/quarter)

Scotia iTrade

Scotia iTrade provide full brokerage services. It offers the following investment products like PreciousMetals, Stocks, Option, Bonds, Mutual Funds, IPOs, RRSPs, TFSAs, & RESPs.

The following is the transaction pricing:

• Market Order: $19.99 per trade (less for active traders)
• Option: $19.99 / trade + $1.75 / contract
• Mutual Funds: $0 for commission fee funds
• ACAT out: $125
• Annual Fee: $0

Investor or trader may be charge with lower fee if they meet certain requirement:

• 150+ trades / quarter - $6.99 per trade
• 30+ trades/quarter - $9.99 per trade
• $50,000+ combined account assets - $9.99 per trade
• <$50,000 asset - $19.99 per trade

Pros of Scotiabank

• One of the big financial banks in Canada
• Offer no monthly fee Savings accounts and offer other currency savings account
• Offer online banking services and mobile banking
• Has wide selection of international banking opportunity outside Canada
• Offer online brokerage account
• Offer free Scotia Plus for senior customer
• Wide selection of credit cards for travel, no fee, student and more
• Offer index mutual fund

Cons

No true free chequing account

Extra fees for additional debit transaction on chequing account & savings account

High brokerage fee for small investor or trader