“Can a legacy Canadian Big Five bank become a North America-focused universal bank while opening its rails via APIs and outsourced partnerships?”
Scotiabank is Canada's third-largest bank by assets, founded in 1832 in Halifax. Historically known for its international footprint across Latin America and the Caribbean, the bank has been pruning underperforming international markets since 2023 under CEO Scott Thomson to refocus on North America. On the embedded finance side, Scotiabank is notable for outsourcing merchant acquiring to Chase Merchant Services and partnering exclusively with ZayZoon for earned wage access, while building out its own Scotia TranXact API platform for corporate clients.
Scotiabank discloses The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Scotiabank does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house).
Scotiabank processes payments through Chase Merchant Services and Scotiabank (self-operated).
Scotiabank's cards are issued through The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house) on the Visa, Mastercard and American Express networks.
Scotiabank's lending and capital products are provided by The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house).
Scotiabank uses The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house) for FX and cross-border payouts.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 8 layers in Scotiabank's stack: Payments / PSP (Chase Merchant Services and Scotiabank (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house)); Card issuing (The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house)); Card network (Visa, Mastercard and American Express); Lending (The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house), Credit Line for business, Credit Line for agriculture, Scotia Professional Plan (SPP) Line of Credit and 4 others); FX & payouts (The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house)); Treasury (The Bank of Nova Scotia (in-house)); Travel booking (Expedia).
Scotiabank was founded by William Lawson (first President) and is founded in 1832, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Scotiabank's acquisitions include ING Direct Canada (Tangerine) (2012).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Scotiabank and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.