Scotiabank takes C$232m hit as it shuts historic gold unit
Bank of Nova Scotia has set aside C$232-million to cover the cost of winding down its historic precious-metals unit as well as a potential settlement of US investigations into the unit’s trading activities.
The charges this year, which the bank disclosed in its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, mark an ignominious end to what was once one of the world’s top gold-trading businesses, with a history dating back to the 17th century.
Scotiabank announced it was closing down its metals business last month. The bank had already significantly reduced its activity in bullion markets, where it was once a leading player alongside banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and HSBC Holdings. Last year it dropped the “Mocatta” name, a fixture of the gold market ever since Moses Mocatta opened an account to trade precious metals in 1671.
The bank has been caught up in regulatory scrutiny of banks’ precious-metals trading and one of its former traders last year pleaded guilty to trying to manipulate prices through spoofing.
Scotiabank, which had previously disclosed that it was being investigated, on Tuesday said it was “engaging in settlement discussions with the applicable authorities” in relation to probes from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the US Department of Justice into its activities in the metals markets.
The C$232-million that Scotiabank set aside in the fiscal year to date was related to both the investigations and the “costs related to the wind-down of the metals business,” the bank said.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation