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Community

We are committed to supporting the growth 
and prosperity of our communities

There were strong parallels between what the teams at the Enactus Challenge were seeking to do and how the Bank seeks to impact our communities. The innovation brought forth by the groups at the Enactus Challenge sought to improve problems that had a large effect on young people — like youth financial literacy, health issues like clean drinking water, and addiction recovery — and that’s a fundamental part of how Scotiabank seeks to improve communities —through our commitment to investing in young people. So it was extremely empowering to see these students thinking about how to address large social issues — using business as a tool to improve communities.

It's important that we work to create better communities, because we're part of them. The Bank, our communities, and our customers all depend on each other. Building strong communities provides better opportunities for customers to become better off — and they create a strong customer base and good employees for the Bank.

What excites me the most is the way that everyone in the Bank seems to be aligned when it comes to our commitment to communities — from our CEO to our executives to our leadership to our employees in branch. Last year we invested over CAD$70 million and Scotiabankers volunteered over 400,000 hours in support of communities. We take pride in our work in the community, and our track record shows it.

When our communities and customers are given the opportunity to become better off, they can journey toward a better future. When I think about a better future, I think about youth. They are the future. The Bank’s commitment to helping communities involves people of all ages — but our youth are an essential part of creating a better future.