Global Finance interviewed Derek Pattison, Scotiabank’s VP of wealth management, Bahamas, on the importance of responding to clients’ needs for any product, anywhere.
Global Finance: How is increased regulation affecting subcustody in your region?
Derek Pattison: A changing regulatory environment is a constant in the global securities business, and the nature of our business requires multiple licenses. For example, in the Bahamas and Cayman—where we maintain banking, brokerage and trust licenses—and across the many countries we serve globally, there are a large number of laws to manage, and many regulators. Thankfully, Scotiabank’s global footprint gives our Caribbean team a strong support network of legal and compliance expertise to complement our local operations, and we share regulatory knowledge, requirements and solutions across jurisdictions. Frankly, without these shared regulatory solutions, it would be hard to track and manage regulatory requirements in a changing global world.
GF: How is technology helping you serve your clients?
Pattison: The majority of our clients have professional money managers associated with their accounts, either from Scotiabank’s asset management teams or external asset managers. Our goal is to exchange information with these asset managers to deliver the solutions our clients need. With the variety of our client base, the solutions we have implemented range from daily, encrypted emails to data feeds into our clients’ asset management software systems. With all the complexity in solutions that clients have available today, we are seeing more clients seeking simplicity in their custody and asset management solutions, with partners that can straddle more jurisdictions and deliver global solutions. We are constantly working with our clients to deliver that.
GF: What is your goal as a subcustodian bank in the Caribbean today?
Pattison: The biggest reward is a satisfied client, one who seeks not only our custody/subcustody services, but other Scotiabank products and services. The greatest reward we see is when those clients realize the benefits of Scotiabank’s global footprint. For example, a custody client in the Bahamas could quickly pledge his assets against a corporate/commercial loan in another Scotiabank jurisdiction. This allows for rapid deployment of capital, when needed, such as for acquisitions, without the need to unwind long-term investment strategies.
