The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) NBF’s 24th Annual Financial Services Conference summary

ROE improvement strategies

• ROE for Canadian banking reached 18.1% in Q1, up 140 bps year-over-year, driven by business and product mix, risk-adjusted margins (RAM), fee growth, and productivity gains.

• Mix shift focuses on increasing higher-value deposits and non-mortgage lending, while RAM benefits from stabilizing rates and a major mortgage repricing window in 2027.

• Fee growth is supported by investments in sales capacity, cards, insurance, and wealth referrals, with double-digit growth expected to continue.

• Productivity improvements stem from head office restructuring and redeployment of resources to sales and technology.

Deposit and product mix evolution

• Shift from term deposits to day-to-day, checking, and wealth products, with 90% of maturing GICs retained within the bank.

• Emphasis on deposit quality and stickiness over headline growth, with valuable deposits up 5% despite overall deposits declining 10% year-over-year.

• Strong partnership with wealth management, with CAD 5.4 billion in referrals in Q1, aiming to increase client retention and share of wallet.

Fee income and competitive landscape

• Fee income rose 8% in Q1, driven by expanded advisor network, card business upgrades, and insurance growth.

• Fee structure seen as resilient to fintech disruption, with growth concentrated in investment and card fees rather than daily banking.