SCOTIA Bank on Thursday announced that the agreement of sale of its banking operations in Guyana to Trinidad’s First Citizens Bank Limited has been terminated in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
According to a statement from the bank, the agreement of sale has expired.

“Scotiabank remains committed to providing the highest level of customer service and quality banking solutions to our customers in Guyana and across the Caribbean,” the company said in a statement issued on its website.

This would have been Scotiabank’s second failed attempt to sell off its Guyana operations, after a previous bid to sell to another Trinidad-headquartered bank, Republic Bank Financial Holdings (RBFH), also fell through in 2019. This was due to the requisite approvals for the sale not being given by Guyana’s Central Bank, the Bank of Guyana (BoG).

The BoG had related that the denial of the application for takeover by RBFH was due largely to the high level of concentration of the banking system, which would have led to systemic issues and would have affected the health of the financial system here.

ScotiaBank subsequently announced, in March, 2021, that it had reached the agreement with First Citizens for sale of its Guyana operations. However, the agreement was subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

The bank had said the sale supports Scotiabank’s strategic decision to focus on operations across its footprint where it can achieve greater scale and deliver the highest value for customers.

However, the BoG earlier this year say that First Citizens does not hold a banking/financial licence from BoG and therefore is not permitted to conduct banking/financial business in Guyana, leaving the state of the sale in jeopardy.