TORONTO, Dec. 9, 2021 /CNW/ - Scotiabank today proudly celebrates the third-year anniversary of The Scotiabank Women Initiative® with plans to expand internationally in the new year. The program – currently available in Canada – will begin its expansion into the Caribbean and Latin America in 2022.

To celebrate, The Scotiabank Women Initiative hosted a virtual fireside chat with fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff. The entrepreneur, author and podcaster spoke with Scotiabank about her entrepreneurial journey, the importance of taking risks and learning through failure.

Launched December 2018, The Scotiabank Women Initiative is a comprehensive program designed to increase economic and professional opportunities for Scotiabank clients who identify as women or non-binary by providing access to capital and tailored solutions, specialized education, advisory services and mentorship to help them succeed on their own financial terms.

"We are incredibly proud to be planning for international expansion of The Scotiabank Women Initiative," says Gillian Riley, President and CEO, Tangerine Bank, and Founder of The Scotiabank Women Initiative. "When we launched the program, our mission was to help advance women-led businesses in Canada. In only three years, we have grown the program and its mandate exponentially, integrating it into several of our key business lines to help women advance in more ways including leading their businesses, advancing their careers, and growing their wealth. Next year we are taking it further to enable even more women to succeed in the Caribbean and Latin American."

The Bank has integrated The Scotiabank Women Initiative into several of its key business lines beyond Canadian Banking, including:

• In 2019, expanded The Scotiabank Women Initiative into Global Banking and Markets offering a suite of advisory, education and innovation solutions, from board preparation courses for women in senior leadership positions to educational and technical training sessions to roundtables focused on key environment, social and governance issues
• In 2020, expanded The Scotiabank Women Initiative into Global Wealth Management to inspire and empower women investors to take charge of their financial futures. By offering education, advice and access to wealth services, women are provided with a newly formed, comprehensive approach to financial advice and wealth services.

The Scotiabank Women Initiative has achieved many notable milestones since its inception including:

• Deployed more than $3 Billion in capital to women-owned and women-led business in Canada
• Engaged +6,000 women-led entrepreneurs across the country through Un-Mentorship Boot Camps™ and Mentorship sessions that help women increase their business savvy by networking and exploring business challenges
• Launched The Scotiabank Women Initiative Digital Hub in collaboration with Shopify, Google Canada, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook and HubSpot to deliver key resources to help women entrepreneurs adapt to uncertain economic times
• Ran four Good Corporate Governance Program cohorts for women in senior leadership positions, to support their path to or expanded board participation
• Held a series of webcasts through Global Banking and Markets' Learn, Engage and Partner (LEAP) Series for women leaders on topics including FX and Hedging Strategies, Emerging from the Pandemic and the "S" of the ESG triangle
• Trained 500+ advisors, relationship managers, portfolio managers, and other employees in client-facing roles on how they can empower their women clients to take charge of their financial futures.
• Hosted 1,100+ women clients at wealth management sessions designed to help them transition through major life events such as retirement, estate planning and caregiving.

More information on the expansion will be available at www.scotiabankwomeninitiative.com starting in January 2022.

About The Scotiabank Women Initiative
The Scotiabank Women Initiative is a signature program designed to increase economic and professional opportunities for our clients who identify as women or non-binary to be successful, now and in the future. This globally expanding, unique offering helps thousands of women pursue their best professional and financial futures by providing unbiased access to capital and tailored solutions, bespoke specialized education, holistic advisory services and mentorship. Whether supporting women to take their careers and businesses further, collaborating with inclusion-focused leaders and companies, providing women-owned and women-led businesses with equitable access to funding or helping women take charge of their finances, The Scotiabank Women Initiative breaks down barriers to empower women to succeed on their own terms. For more information, visit scotiabankwomeninitiative.com.

About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of approximately 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.2 trillion (as at October 31, 2021), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank