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Scotiabank review

Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd

Three stars: a clean ten-year record.

Booking centreCayman Islands
RegulatorCayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA); home supervisor Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Canada) per site footer
Legal formLocally incorporated subsidiary
GroupScotiabank (The Bank of Nova Scotia)
Websiteky.scotiabank.com
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PPLI.com
Private Bank Rating
3 out of 5 stars
Editorial assessment on UHNW criteria
Reviewed 6 November 2026 · Q4 2026 edition
Updated every quarter
Rating signed byNoam CohenEditor, Bank Intelligence
About the rating
3 out of 5, Q4 2026 edition
Publishedshown as published, not compared
Noneno decision naming this licence holder in ten years
Not publishedminimum relationship
The editor's opinion

Why Scotiabank has three stars

Scotiabank earns three stars. No final adverse finding against this licence holder in ten years of regulatory and court records. What a family should weigh: deposit protection is minimal. Not yet documented: how the law protects custody assets in this centre and whether external asset managers have a dedicated desk. The rating counts only what is on file.

Noam Cohen, Editor, Bank IntelligenceReviewed 6 November 2026, Q4 2026 edition. The rating weighs the public record together with what clients and their advisers tell us in confidence; retail products, branches and apps play no part.

Where Scotiabank stands out

  • No final adverse finding against this licence holder in ten years of regulatory and court records.
  • A broad range of private banking services is published for this booking unit.
  • Ownership is public, with some detail missing.
  • No politically exposed person holds a significant stake.

What to weigh

  • Deposit protection is minimal.
  • Only a summary of the custody terms is public.
  • Only part of the tariff is published.
  • No public policy on third-party payments or retrocessions.
  • Legal protection of custody assets in this centre is still to be documented here.
  • The bank does not say whether it runs a desk for external asset managers.

The rating expresses the opinion of PPLI.com on the date shown. It is not a statement of fact about the bank, not a credit rating, not a forecast of failure and not investment advice.

The record

Regulatory and legal record

What regulators, prosecutors and courts have decided, recorded against the legal entity they named, with the status, the amounts as published and a link to the original document. Claims and investigations still under way are marked as open.

We found no regulatory, criminal or court decision naming this licence holder in the last ten years, in the sources listed below.
Matters concerning other entities in the group (1)
202019 August 2020

Penalty for swap dealer compliance and supervision failures and false statements to the regulator

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered The Bank of Nova Scotia, the ultimate parent of Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd, to pay a USD 50 million civil monetary penalty on 19 August 2020. The parent gave counterparties inaccurate or untimely pre-trade mid-market marks, had onboarding, recordkeeping and chief compliance officer reporting failures, failed to supervise and made false or misleading statements to CFTC staff, and was ordered to cease and desist, remediate and retain a monitor for three years.

Shown for context only: the decision concerns The Bank of Nova Scotia, not Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd, and does not count towards this rating.

US Commodity Futures Trading CommissionFinal decisionPenalty USD 50 millionPrimary source
Clients and standing

Client experience and financial standing

What clients meet at Scotiabank, read from complaint registers, ombudsman decisions and court records, independent reporting and what clients and their advisers tell PPLI.com in confidence. Announcements by the bank, awards and marketing material are left out.

UHNW client ratings

1.2 out of 5, based on 6 client ratings for this booking centre.

What clients report

The one enforcement matter in the group, the CFTC order of August 2020 against the parent over swap dealing, does not name the Cayman bank.

In the press

What it costs

What Scotiabank charges, compared

Scotiabank does not publish a private banking tariff; the only schedule on its site is written for retail accounts. Its figures are shown below as read on 6 November 2026, so a family knows what the bank puts in public, but they are not compared with the private banking schedules of other banks and earn no fee stars. Private clients of Scotiabank are priced individually.

FeeScotiabankOther banksAgainst the others
Minimum annual feeper year, or fee below the asset thresholdUSD 101 a yearKYD 7 per month SourceRetail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms
Outgoing international transferper transfer, standardUSD 120KYD 100; stated as a maximum SourceRetail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms
Closing the accountone offUSD 44KYD 37 SourceRetail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms

Not in the published schedule: custody and safekeeping, discretionary mandate, advisory mandate, equity trade, bond trade, third party fund subscription, currency conversion, account maintenance, transfer of securities to another bank, lombard loan margin.

Sources.

  1. Schedule of Charges | Scotiabank, Effective September 1, 2024, read on 6 November 2026
  2. Summary of fee changes for February 2026, Effective February 1, 2026, read on 6 November 2026. ATM, POS, sundry, corporate, offshore banking unit and captive fee changes; nothing for Premium Banking, wires or closure.
  3. Schedule of Charges, Effective July 15, 2019, read on 6 November 2026. Older PDF naming Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Limited; superseded by the web page, not used for figures.
  4. Foreign exchange rates and currency fees, Effective November 5, 2026, read on 6 November 2026. Exchange rate table only (USD cheque/wire buy 0.8200, sell 0.8400); rates apply to trades up to $5,000, larger trades priced by the branch.

How the comparison works: USD 25 million booked with the bank: half under a discretionary balanced mandate, half in custody with advice; 24 equity trades of USD 250,000 and 8 bond trades of USD 500,000 a year; 6 currency conversions of USD 1 million; 24 outgoing international transfers. Tiered fees are applied to those amounts tranche by tranche, stated minimums are applied, and amounts are converted at indicative rates of 2026-11-06. Read how we compare fees.

The bank at a glance

Identity, protection and services

Legal identity

Legal nameScotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd
LEI549300S1SYQJL97KAF87
LicenceCategory A banking licence (CIMA Category A bank list, updated 30 June 2022)  Source
RegulatorCayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA); home supervisor Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Canada) per site footer
Legal formLocally incorporated subsidiary
OwnerThe Bank of Nova Scotia Source

Ownership

Group parentThe Bank of Nova Scotia (listed, TSX / NYSE)  Source
ControlWidely held; no shareholder with 10% or more  Source

Ownership is shown as published, with its date. It describes who owns the bank; it does not, by itself, suggest any wrongdoing by the bank or its owners.

Financial strength, as reported

Credit ratingsNot yet on file
Total capital ratio51.2% (31 Oct 2025)
Total assetsUSD 2.6 billion (31 Oct 2025)

Figures for Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd. Source: Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd Market Discipline Disclosure (Pillar 3), October 2025.

Services published for this booking unit

Private clients
Discretionary management
Advisory mandates
Custody only (execution and safekeeping)
Lombard lending
Mortgage lending
Multi currency accounts
Trust and fiduciary services
Family office services
Wealth planning
Consolidated reporting
External asset manager desk

Offered at this booking centreOffered by the group, not confirmed hereNot located, which does not mean unavailable
Checked on the bank's own pages, 2 November 2026.

Access and costs

Minimum relationshipNot published
US personsNot published
Fee schedulePublished, Effective September 1, 2024  Source  Compared below
Third party paymentsNot published
Transfer out termsNot published

Protection of client assets

Deposit protectionA regulator statement of absence was not located.
Custody lawNot published
Custody termsNot published

Before opening an account

  • Custody agreement. Ask for the agreement covering the account you would open. Which entity holds the securities, what law governs the account, and where would the assets be held if a sub-custodian is used?
  • A portfolio-backed credit line. If you intend to borrow against the portfolio, ask for the eligibility and haircut schedule, the margin-call timetable and the charges for holding or transferring pledged securities.
  • Closing the account. The retail tariff shown in the review comes to USD 44 as a closure charge. Ask for a separate estimate of any sale, transfer or third-party charges that would apply to your holdings. See published fees.
Your experience

Rate Scotiabank

If you bank with Scotiabank or advise clients who do, your experience forms part of its PPLI.com rating. Every response is read by the editor and treated in strict confidence.

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Our commitment to confidentiality

Your name, email and telephone number are seen only by the PPLI.com editor. They are never published, never passed to Scotiabank or any other bank, and never used for marketing. We may contact you once to clarify your assessment. Once verified by our editors, your assessment can lead to a disclosed adjustment of this bank's PPLI.com rating. It is never published with your name.

Sources

All 15 documents cited on this page, by subject.

Regulatory and legal record

  1. US Commodity Futures Trading Commission: Penalty for swap dealer compliance and supervision failures and false statements to the regulator, 19 August 2020cftc.gov

Client experience and press

  1. Cayman Compass: Scotiabank appoints head of Cayman operations, caymancompass.com

Fees

  1. Scotiabank: Schedule of chargesky.scotiabank.com · Fees
  2. Scotiabank: Summary of fee changes for february 2026ky.scotiabank.com · Fees
  3. Scotiabank: SCHEDULE OF CHARGES (PDF)ky.scotiabank.com · Fees
  4. Scotiabank: Foreign exchange rates currency feesky.scotiabank.com · Fees

Identity, ownership, finances and services

  1. Cayman Islands Monetary Authority: Commonfiles (PDF)cima.ky · Licence
  2. GLEIF: Ultimate parentapi.gleif.org · Group parent
  3. Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd Market Discipline Disclosure (Pillar 3), October 2025ky.scotiabank.com · Financial strength
  4. Scotiabank: Scotia wealth managementky.scotiabank.com · Services
  5. Scotiabank: Investment advisoryky.scotiabank.com · Services
  6. Scotiabank: Wealth lendingky.scotiabank.com · Services
  7. Scotiabank: Private bankingky.scotiabank.com · Services
  8. Scotiabank: Wealth structuring and trustky.scotiabank.com · Services

The bank

  1. Scotiabank, websiteky.scotiabank.com

For Scotiabank

Before we publish a significant negative finding that is not already public, we give the bank the facts and time to comment, on the same timetable for every bank. Decisions of regulators and courts are shown as they were published. Corrections we verify are published with the date of the change. Write to [email protected] quoting reference BK-KY-SCOTIABANK-CAYMAN-8DA8CA.

Reviewing this file with us

Families and their advisers read this file before they open an account. It can only be as complete as the documents we can find, and much of what sets a private bank apart, from its custody terms to the way a client team works, is rarely published.

If you represent Scotiabank, one of our Bank Intelligence analysts can go through the file with you: correct anything that is out of date, add terms and documents that are not yet public, and set out what has improved since our last edition. The review is a paid engagement for the analyst's time and research.

The rating itself stays with our editor and follows what the documents show, so we cannot promise a particular result. When a review changes the file, this page notes that the bank took part, with the date and what was added.

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About this file

Researched by the PPLI.com research desk from the public sources listed. The rating is our editorial opinion; read how we rate.

Important information. Editorial opinion of PPLI.com on the date shown, based on public information, client experience and editorial judgment. Not a statement of fact, a credit rating or investment, legal, tax or financial advice; verify with the bank and your own advisers before acting. No liability is accepted for reliance on this content. Bank names and logos are used for identification only. Ratings are updated every quarter. This is the Q4 2026 edition, and a rating can change between editions if something material happens. Full disclaimer
Rating signed by Noam Cohen, Editor, Bank IntelligenceReviewed 6 November 2026Methodology 2.4Reference BK-KY-SCOTIABANK-CAYMAN-8DA8CA
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