Scotiabankers help their neighbours. Scotiabank's 175 year history has many examples of how we lend a helping hand in times of trouble. Here are a few.

The Start of it All

Scotiabank was born out of necessity. Halifax was the third largest city in British America in 1832 (after Montreal and Quebec City). The Halifax Banking Company, a private corporation serving the needs of its eight founders (five of whom were members of the 12 man Governor's Council that ran the colony), was the only bank in town.

Halifax c.1830. Courtesy of Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management

Halifax's importance as port meant that it was home to a large number of merchants. They were in need of a financial institution to help them finance their trade ventures.

On December 31, 1831 a meeting was held at the Merchants Exchange Coffee House, which Joseph Howe (future Nova Scotia Premier and Federal Cabinet Minister) described as "a very numerous, respectable and highly influential meeting to take into consideration the propriety of establishing a Public Bank." A month later 184 citizens, including Howe, signed a petition to the House of Assembly requesting the establishment of a public bank. Their campaign was successful. The Bank of Nova Scotia Act of Incorporation received Royal Assent on March 30, 1832. The new Bank's shareholders met on May 10, at the Merchant's Exchange Coffee House, to elect a Board of Directors. The Bank of Nova Scotia opened for business in John Romans's building on August 29, 1832.

When the Halifax Explosion devastated the city on December 16, 1917 Scotiabank was the leading donor to the Halifax Relief Fund and Scotiabankers helped their fellow citizens survive the damage.

Halifax devastated by the explosion of the Mont Blanc, December 6, 1917. Photo courtesy of the City of Toronto Archives, James Collection #2435.

Jamaica

For many years merchants in Nova Scotia had traded saltfish, lumber, and potatoes for Jamaican rum and molasses. By the late 1880s, the development of the Jamaican economy, through the expansion of roads and railways, the development of the banana industry, and the stabilization of export prices, created the need to place this barter trade on a monetary basis. With only one Bank - the Colonial - operating in Jamaica, Scotiabank once again provided Jamaican and Nova Scotian merchants with an alternative when it opened a Branch in Kingston in 1889.

Bank of Nova Scotia 5 Pound note

With this historic move Scotiabank became the first Canadian Bank to open in the West Indies, and the first Canadian Bank with a foreign operation outside of the United States or the United Kingdom.

When the Earthquake of 1907, and its resulting fire, devastated Kingston, Scotiabank staff mobilized to clear away rubble, recover banking records and cash from the buried vault, and resumed banking service almost immediately.

Scotiabank, Kingston, Jamaica, c.1910

Newfoundland

On December 10, 1894 Newfoundland faced a severe economic crisis when both of its Banks - The Commercial Bank of Newfoundland and the Union Bank of Newfoundland - failed. Newfoundlanders found themselves with worthless currency and no banking facilities. Scotiabank swung into action. On 14 December 1894, Daniel Waters and John A. McLeod boarded a ship bound for St. John's. They arrived on December 16 after a crossing beset by severe winter storms - beating competitors Bank of Montreal and Merchant's Bank of Halifax who were also scrambling to get to the island. Scotiabank opened for business on December 21 in temporary quarters in a steamship company office. Shortly thereafter, the Branch moved to permanent quarters at the corner of Water Street and McBride's Hill.

William Ewen Stavert c. 1890

John A. McLeod c. 1890

Daniel Waters c. 1888

In January 1895, William Stavert arrived to run the St. John's office and McLeod opened a second branch in Harbour Grace a month later.

When Scotiabank mounted its Newfoundland rescue operations it sent three of its best men: John A. McLeod, who would become President and Chairman of Scotiabank; Daniel Waters, who would become the Bank's Assistant General Manager; and William Stavert, who was knighted for his service during WWI.

Scotiabank's commitment to Newfoundland is exemplified by the innovative coastal service that provided banking services to remote communities, aboard two CNR coastal steamers - the MV Bonavista and the SS Northern Ranger, from 1963 to 1965.

S.S. Northern Ranger, 1963

Newfoundland Coastal Banking Services