The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): ANSOFF MATRIX [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking for a clear-eyed view on how The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) plans to nail that 5% to 7% EPS growth target for fiscal 2025, right? Honestly, it all comes down to smartly deploying that massive C$1.4 trillion asset base through their focused North American corridor play. We've mapped out the four clear paths-from digging deeper in Canada with more clients and automation to expanding into new Latin American markets and even buying a FinTech firm for payments-so you can see exactly where the action is for the next year.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) - Ansoff Matrix: Market Penetration

You're looking at how The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) can deepen its hold in its existing Canadian market. This is about getting more wallet share from the clients you already serve and winning new ones in the domestic space. It's the lowest-risk quadrant, but in a mature market like Canadian Banking, the gains require focused execution.

The immediate objective is to push past the 392,000 new clients added since the strategy launch. You need to drive deeper penetration with newcomers through the StartRight™ Program. This involves fully integrating the Nova Credit functionality to immediately boost credit card limits for eligible new Canadians, making the value proposition tangible right away.

For the existing deposit base, the focus shifts to cross-selling higher-margin products. The Bank of Nova Scotia is currently the third-largest bank domestically, so gaining share in mortgages and commercial loans from current deposit holders is critical for domestic growth. The Q2 2025 results showed that total deposits were actually down 2% year-over-year, though personal deposits managed a 1% increase. This signals a clear need for aggressive, targeted deposit rate campaigns to reverse the overall decline and fund loan growth.

Here are some key financial metrics from the Q2 2025 period that frame the current operating environment in Canadian Banking:

Driving efficiency in Canadian retail operations is non-negotiable to support margin pressure. The goal here is to reduce the productivity ratio from the reported 55.7% (Q2 2025 adjusted baseline) using AI-driven process automation. This is about making every dollar spent work harder.

The actions required for this Market Penetration strategy include:

• Exceeding the 392,000 cumulative new client mark.
• Increasing credit card limits via Nova Credit integration.
• Targeting existing deposit clients for mortgage origination.
• Deploying campaigns to reverse the 2% total deposit YoY decline.
• Achieving a productivity ratio below 55.7% in Canadian retail.

The Bank of Nova Scotia declared a quarterly dividend of $1.10 per share in Q2 2025, up from $1.06 previously, signaling confidence that capital generation can support shareholder returns even while investing heavily. The overall bank reported total revenue of $9.08 billion for the quarter. Finance: model the cost-to-serve reduction from a 100 basis point drop in the productivity ratio by end of Q4 2025.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) - Ansoff Matrix: Market Development

You're looking at where The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) can deploy existing commercial banking services into new geographic markets, so let's look at the hard numbers supporting that strategy.

Expanding Commercial Banking in Mexico

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) holds the #4 rank for market share of loans in Mexico as of February 2025, with average loans totaling $43 billion in Q2 2025. This market strength contributed to Global Banking and Markets International Banking earnings growing by 8% year-over-year in Q2 2025. You see the scale in the Q2 2025 figures:

Strategic Observation via KeyCorp Stake

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) completed the final purchase of its strategic minority investment in KeyCorp, reaching a total ownership of approximately 14.9% for a total cash consideration of approximately US$2.8 billion. This investment is designed to allow observation of specialized US retail banking segments, with the Other segment reporting an adjusted net loss of $80 million in Q2 2025 that benefited from a full quarter of KeyCorp earnings contribution. The US operation held average loans of $42 billion in Q2 2025.

North American Cross-Border Targeting

Cross-border business client targeting relies on the existing scale across the corridor. In Q2 2025, Canadian Banking held average loans of $459 billion, while Mexican operations held $43 billion in average loans, and US operations held $42 billion in average loans.

Growing International Banking Share in Chile and Peru

International Banking adjusted earnings grew by 7% year-over-year in Q2 2025, reaching $719 million. By Q3 2025, segment earnings were $675 million, still up 7% year-over-year. The effective tax rate in Q2 2025 decreased to 19.5% partly due to higher inflationary adjustments in Chile and favorable adjustments in Peru.

• Chile average loans were $52 billion in Q2 2025.
• Peru average loans were $21 billion in Q2 2025.
• International Wealth Management earnings in Q3 2025 were $64 million, driven by growth in Chile and Peru.

Digital-Only Brand Test in New Latin American Market

The strategy involves testing a new market with lower capital expenditure, which follows the optimization efforts in the region, such as the sale of CrediScotia Financiera S.A. in Peru on February 28, 2025, which resulted in an additional loss of $9 million in non-interest income. International Wealth Management earnings in Q3 2025 were $64 million.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) - Ansoff Matrix: Product Development

You're looking at how The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) is pushing new products into existing markets, which is the core of Product Development on the Ansoff Matrix. It's about making your current client base richer with more services, and the numbers from Q2 2025 show this is already paying off in parts of the business.

For the high-net-worth push in Signature Banking, while we don't have a specific growth number for that sub-segment yet, look at the overall Global Wealth Management (GWM) performance. GWM adjusted earnings were up a solid 17% year-over-year in Q2 2025. That growth was supported by Assets Under Management (AUM) reaching $380 billion, marking a 9% increase year-over-year as of Q2 2025. That's the kind of momentum you want to ride with deeper offerings.

The focus on private asset solutions and Active ETFs is clearly tied to that GWM success. The strategy is to deepen the wallet share within existing affluent clients. Also, the bank is making moves in sustainability, which is a product in itself for commercial clients. The Bank of Nova Scotia has set a target to provide CAD $350 billion in climate-related finance by 2030. They've already demonstrated execution by pricing a EUR 1 billion (or about USD 1.06bn) green bond in the European market. That's a concrete product supporting the green financing suite you're planning for Canadian commercial clients.

For the mass-affluent segment, enhancing Scotia Smart Investor with AI-driven retirement planning tools is about product enhancement, not just a new feature. We know the bank is already launching new automated digital savings tools within the Scotia Smart Money feature set to facilitate everyday savings behaviours for clients. This suggests the infrastructure for personalized, digital advice is definitely being built out.

To keep term deposits from walking out the door in Canadian Banking, creating a high-yield digital savings product is a direct response to market needs. The bank reported that deposits were flat year-over-year in Q2 2025, so retaining that funding base with a competitive, high-yield digital offering is a smart defensive and offensive play. Defintely, you need to match or beat the market rates.

Here's a quick look at the financial context supporting these product development investments:

The product development focus areas are clearly mapped to areas showing existing strength or requiring immediate defense:

• Deepen private asset penetration in GWM.
• Launch sustainability-linked loans for commercial clients.
• Enhance digital tools for mass-affluent clients.
• Introduce competitive digital savings products.
• Capture more high-net-worth clients in Canada.

The overall bank saw revenue growth of 9% year-over-year in Q2 2025, which provides the capital base to fund these new product rollouts. The positive operating leverage achieved for the fifth consecutive quarter suggests the underlying business is efficient enough to support these growth expenditures.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) - Ansoff Matrix: Diversification

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) is pursuing diversification by entering new markets and offering new services, building on its strategic exit from certain Latin American operations.

Acquire a mid-sized financial technology (FinTech) firm focused on B2B payments to enter a new, high-margin service line.

The broader FinTech sector saw acquisition activity totaling $37.6 billion across 180 deals in the first half (H1) of 2025. This environment suggests strategic consolidation, making a targeted acquisition for a B2B payments focus a viable path to a new, high-margin service line for The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS).

Establish a specialized infrastructure investment fund, leveraging the C$1.36 billion capital freed up from divestitures in Colombia and Central America.

The strategic divestitures, which included banking operations in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama being transferred to Davivienda in exchange for an approximate 20% ownership stake in Davivienda Group, resulted in a reported C$1.36 billion impairment loss. This capital redeployment supports new investment vehicles, such as a specialized infrastructure fund.

Launch an insurance brokerage service in Mexico, a new product line in a core international market, to diversify fee-based revenue.

Mexico is a core focus market for The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) within its North American corridor strategy. The Mexican insurance market is projected to reach an estimated $28.8 billion in gross written premiums in 2025.

• Insurance penetration in Mexico remains low at around 2.5% of GDP.
• As of late 2024, the distribution network included 675 legal entity agents.
• Health insurance generated over 30% of broker commissions, with motor policies at 25%.

Partner with an international trade finance platform to offer new supply chain financing products to Global Banking and Markets clients.

The Global Banking and Markets unit showed strong performance, with underwriting advisory fees growing 28% year-to-date in 2025. This segment also saw trading-related revenues up 50% for the year-to-date period in 2025.

Invest in a minority stake in a US-based digital wealth advisor to gain exposure to a new, fully digital distribution model.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) increased its US exposure by investing in a minority stake in KeyCorp, a US regional bank, for approximately $2.8 billion. This investment represents a 14.9% equity stake.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) reported total assets of approximately $1.4 trillion as at July 31, 2025. The Global Wealth Management segment reported assets under management (AUM) of $407 billion as of Q3 2025, marking a 12% year-over-year increase.

The bank's adjusted Return on Equity (ROE) for Q3 2025 was 12.4%.