Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia announced a significant rebranding and organizational restructuring of its full complement of wealth advice and services platform under the name Scotia Wealth Management on Monday.
The changes affect how Scotiabank delivers wealth-management services, allowing it to provide clients with advice in a seamless, integrated fashion, says Glen Gowland, senior vice president Canadian wealth management at Scotiabank.
“This is very much looking through the lens of what the customer is going to need, not just today, but in the next 10, 20, 30 years out, and how we’re positioned to deliver on that,” he says.
As part of that process, Scotiabank is also currently looking at the option of introducing a robo-advice platform “in a very serious way,” Gowland says.
All financial planning, investment management, private banking, trust and estate, insurance, and business succession planning services will now fall under the umbrella of Scotia Wealth Management, which will serve as a global brand. Signage on ScotiaMcLeod Inc. or private investment counsel offices, for example, will be changed to the new name. (ScotiaMcLeod, an Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada-licensed investment dealer, will continue to exist as a legal entity.)
“As opposed to [just] being a ScotiaMcLeod office, [a Scotia Wealth Management branch] could contain private banking, trust, etc. within that branch as well as ScotiaMcLeod services,” Gowland says.
The restructuring will allow Scotiabank to adapt to evolving client needs and expectations, Gowland says, particularly in areas such as intergenerational wealth transfer and business transition planning.
“In Canada, historically, it’s been fairly easy to get a singular, specialized service,” Gowland says. “What has been frankly nonexistent has been a team of dedicated professionals working as a group to work on all aspects of that financial plan for that client simultaneously, and that’s really what’s at the heart of Scotia Wealth Management.”
The rebranding is part of a process that began two years ago when the new model was established and tested at branches in select urban centres, including Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. These integrated services branches have allowed advisors there to win a greater share of a client’s business vs those who work in the more traditional branches, Gowland says.
“This isn’t just a model that we want to do in a few locations,” Gowland says. “It’s something that we believe we can bring to bear in a very fulsome way across the organization.”
Branches can be built and staffed to address local differences, with more or less of certain services and capabilities, depending on customer needs in that market, Gowland says.
Meanwhile, although HollisWealth Inc. falls under Scotia Wealth Management, the dealer will continue to operate as a separate brand identity.
“HollisWealth is very much, and historically has been, an independent,” Gowland says. “It’s very financial planning focused, and seller of insurance and a number of other wealth services, but will very much [remain] an independent brand.”
Scotia iTrade, the bank’s direct investing platform, is also unaffected by the restructuring.
As for the introduction of a robo-advisor service, Gowland says, “We would see ourselves delivering across that entire spectrum of [advice], all the way from a simple algorithmic way to provide advice all the way to a very highly sophisticated personalized advice [way], and everything in between.”
See also: Scotiabank hires digital banking advisor