Scotiabank plan to sell Caribbean banks hits hurdle

• Scotiabank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
• The bank has been locked in a standoff with the government of Antigua and Barbuda.
• Scotiabank had been selling non-core businesses and focusing its international operations on the Pacific Alliance trading bloc.

Bank of Nova Scotia's efforts to pull out of nine Caribbean and South American countries hit another block this week as a proposed deal to sell its operations in Guyana was turned down by the central bank, The Globe and Mail reported.

The Bank of Guyana cited concerns about concentration and competition in denying Scotiabank permission to sell the business to Republic Financial Holdings Ltd, the Trinidad and Tobago-based parent company of Republic Bank, according the report.

Canada's third-biggest lender said last November that it planned to exit nine countries in the Caribbean, including Antigua and Grenada, by selling its operations to Republic Financial Holdings.

Scotiabank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The bank has been locked in a standoff with the government of Antigua and Barbuda, which has refused to approve the sale of Scotiabank's Antiguan branch, according to the report.

Scotiabank had been selling non-core businesses and focusing its international operations on the Pacific Alliance trading bloc of Peru, Mexico, Chile and Columbia, which now accounts for around a quarter of its revenue.