TORONTO, Nov. 25 /CNW/ - Scotiabank Group today announced the expansion of its suite of ScotiaLife Financial insurance products and services with three new individual term life insurance products. In addition, it announced the opening of its second retail ScotiaLife Financial Insurance Centre; the new centre is located in downtown Toronto.

"Insurance remains a key focus for the Scotiabank Group," said Chris Hodgson, Group Head, Global Wealth Management, Scotiabank. "We see tremendous growth opportunities in Canada and the expansion of our insurance offering within our new Global Wealth Management division will accelerate our ability to provide comprehensive financial solutions to our loyal customer base."

The term life offering marks the first individual life insurance products available through ScotiaLife Financial. The new products include ScotiaLife Term 10, Term 20 and Term to 100 insurance. Coverage will be offered up to $250,000 and the underwriting will be simplified to facilitate a streamlined process for new applicants. The new term products will be available at the ScotiaLife Financial Insurance Centres, with call centre and web capabilities on the stand alone ScotiaLife Financial website coming in the near future.

"We understand that customers are looking for simple, straightforward insurance solutions from a trusted source," said Mark Cummings, Senior Vice-President and Head, Insurance Canada, Scotiabank. "By adding individual term products to our product portfolio that are simple to quote, simple to apply and most importantly simple to understand, we feel that we will accomplish this goal."

ScotiaLife Financial currently offers a full range of life and health insurance products including hospitalization, critical illness, health and dental, and accidental death insurance to Scotiabank customers, as well as home, auto, travel and now individual term life insurance products.

Access to ScotiaLife Financial products continues to be a focus for the Scotiabank Group. With the success of the first ScotiaLife Financial Insurance Centre in Mississauga, the new centre located on the concourse level of the Bay Adelaide Centre in Toronto further solidifies the Bank's strategy to explore and grow this distribution channel. Both centres will offer home and auto insurance along with the three new term products and will be staffed by fully licensed life and health and home and auto insurance agents.

"As we continue to develop our brand and carve out our place in the market, it is important for us to have a strong presence in the eyes of the consumer," said Mr. Cummings. "We feel that our brand positioning of 'Surprisingly Simple Insurance' resonates extremely well, and reflects not only our product focus but also our value proposition."

Scotiabank Group has ramped up the marketing of its ScotiaLife Financial brand. The new products, as well as the continued growth of the Insurance Centres, demonstrate the Bank's strategic priority to grow its insurance business.

Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With close to 70,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve approximately 14.6 million customers in some 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a diverse range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With more than $523 billion in assets (as at July 31, 2010), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York Exchanges (BNS). For more information please visit www.scotiabank.com.