Audrey Tugwell Henry, President and CEO Of Scotia Group Jamaica Has Released The Following Report For The Second Quarter Of Fiscal 2023
Scotia Group reports net income of $7.6 billion for the six months ended April 30, 2023, representing an increase of $4.0 billion or 108.4% over the comparative prior period. Net income for the quarter of $4.2 billion reflected an increase of $788MM or 23% over the previous quarter. The Group’s performance continues to be anchored by solid growth across all our business lines, prudent risk management and efficient management of our operations.
“We remain laser-focused on our strategy, and this has allowed us to maintain momentum across our lines of business supported firmly by our ongoing customer service improvements and digital transformation initiatives” said Audrey Tugwell Henry, President and CEO of Scotia Group Jamaica.
She further commented, “Our customers continue to place their trust in us, evidenced by sustained growth in our deposit book and as we continue to evolve as a full-suite financial services provider. They have also shown increasing interest in our new and innovative products, including those offered by our recently launched subsidiary Scotia General Insurance Agency.”
During the period under review, we have seen increasing interest in our products and services resulting in strong performances across the business. Total deposits increased by 10% ($437.6 billion in 2023 up from J$397.7 billion in 2022) as customers continue to trust us to manage their financial affairs. The Group also
maintained growth in our lending portfolio as we continue to offer competitive products to the market. Total loans during the period increased by 20.3%, up J$42.1 billion compared the respective period in 2022.
The corporate and commercial segment delivered growth of 23% over prior period as our team continued to provide relevant financial solutions, sound relationship management and exemplary services to business customers. There continues to be strong growth in our digital payment solutions for business customers with near universal adoption of our outgoing payment solutions on our propriety channels. We have also seen strong adoption of our eCommerce solutions and enhanced tax payment service introduced during the last two quarters.
The retail banking business also performed well with our flagship Scotia Plan Loans increasing by 12% versus the corresponding period in 2022. We continue to support customers to buy a home with highly competitive interest rates for mortgages. As a result, our mortgage business continues to perform exceptionally with a 31% increase versus the prior period.
Our life insurance business, Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance Company Limited (Scotia Insurance) reported net insurance revenue of $1 billion compared to $136 million in the prior period, reflecting a year over year increase of $894 million. Scotia Insurance will celebrate its 25th anniversary in June and we are proud to have helped thousands of Jamaicans to protect their families and plan for the future with our products. We intend to redouble our efforts to ensure that all our customers are aware of the importance of protection as part of their financial plan.
Scotia Insurance also launched a key enhancement to Scotia CritiCare, our critical illness plan, which now boasts triple the coverage previously offered as we increase our efforts to provide our customers with accessible and affordable coverage for major illnesses.
At Scotia Investments, all our funds continue to perform well with yields beating the respective benchmarks. Our Scotia Premium Short Term Income Fund JMD and Scotia Premium US$ Indexed Fund continue to deliver best-in-class performances ranking in the top two among similar funds. This performance is a testament to our investment management expertise as well as our commitment to deliver the best risk-adjusted returns to our customers.
We must also highlight the successful efforts of our Investment Banking team in raising J$250 million to refinance maturing preference shares for CAC 2000 Limited (Ltd.) – an industry – leading energy and indoor environmental quality solutions provider which services both the commercial and residential sectors.

Our Customer First strategy continues to evolve as we reimagine the customer experience in all areas of our business.
Our Customer First strategy continues to evolve as we reimagine the customer experience in all areas of our business. We continue to leverage ‘The Pulse’, our customer feedback system to ensure that we are actively listening to customers and addressing their concerns. Over the past few months, we have seen marked improvements in customer satisfaction and net promoter scores.
Leveraging our customer insights, we recently launched Scotia Access, a focused relationship strategy for customers with more complex financial needs. This model offers personalized advice and solutions by a dedicated advisor as well as a digital collaboration tool which allows customers to connect on the go in a secure environment through mobile or online banking with their assigned advisor via chat, audio or video conferencing.
In March 2023, we began a major migration exercise of approximately 70,000 customers to accounts better suited for their needs. The migration exercise included customers who now qualify for senior accounts which offer a range of special benefits and reduced fees.
Further upgrades continued across our digital channels with the revamping of our online banking website and the implementation of ‘Breeze’ – a more customer intuitive online web platform with several enhanced functionalities. Online banking is now our most used channel with 39% of total transactions being conducted online and only 2% within our branches.
We continue to advance our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda through various initiatives. In April 2023, we supported the Jamaica Environment Trust in coastal clean-up efforts with a beach clean-up activity at Sigarny Beach in Kingston. Over 4,100 pounds of garbage were collected and sorted during that event. During the quarter, Scotiabank globally launched a net zero research fund which offered not-for-profit and charitable organizations opportunities to submit proposals for research targeting decarbonization.
Our Social Impact initiatives are ongoing throughout the year. During the quarter, the Group supported Junior Achievement Jamaica through the ‘Scotiabank Road to Success’ financial education programme. Financial literacy sessions were also held in conjunction with project STAR for women in the participating communities in Kingston. The Scotiabank Women Initiative (SWI) continued to support women-led businesses through an education seminar focused on ecommerce. The SWI also launched an entrepreneurial course with Dress for Success Jamaica aimed at helping women from disadvantaged situations to become more economically resilient.
In line with our corporate governance standards, Scotia Group held its Annual General Meeting in March 2023 in a hybrid format. This gave us the opportunity to engage with our shareholders to discuss the performance and direction of the business.
In closing, I would sincerely like to thank all our shareholders for their demonstrated confidence in the Group. I would like to thank our winning team of Scotiabankers for going the extra mile for our customers and delivering another strong performance this quarter, and of course thank you to our customers who continue to make Scotia their financial partner – for every future.”
For more CLICK HERE