TORONTO, ON - November 21, 2016 /CNW/ - Scotiabank has earned the top spot in Forrester Research's 2016 Canadian Bank Digital Sales Functionality Benchmark. The highly influential technology research and advisory firm ranked Scotiabank number one in this year's Benchmark -- up from 5^th place a year ago.

This Forrester Benchmark reviews the bank account sales content and functionality on the public websites and mobile apps of the five largest retail banks in Canada. This year's report cited Scotiabank for providing rich content that customers can get to quickly, directing customers to the right chequing account, and providing a fast, simple, digital application process that lets customers open an account in real time.

"At Scotiabank, we are continually innovating and investing in technology to transform banking for our customers," said Mike Henry, Executive Vice President, Retail Payments, Deposits and Unsecured Lending at Scotiabank. "We believe that this recognition demonstrates the momentum we are building at Scotiabank to become a leading digital Bank. Last year, we announced the creation of the Digital Factory, identified dedicated, agile teams focused on improving the customer journey, launched online account opening for personal banking customers, were first to market with the same for our small business customers, and brought simple, secure digital tools to market that enable our customers to do their banking whenever and wherever they choose."

Forrester's Digital Sales Functionality Benchmark specifically cited Scotiabank as "the most effective" among the five assessed firms in the "discover" phase, a stage that determines whether "the site presents content in a way that is easy to absorb and understand." The Benchmark also calls out Scotiabank's educational content that "offers links to 'Tips to Reduce Fees' and 'Banking Basics', which includes helpful information such as how to save automatically and how to make your money work harder."

"We believe this recognition from Forrester shows that our investment in technology is making it easier for customers to learn about the digital solutions that best meet their needs," continued Henry. "We are proud that Scotiabank's new ways to bank and pay are hitting the mark with our customers and we are delighted that our commitment to providing an excellent customer experience has earned us this recognition from one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world."

Earlier this year, Forrester recognized Scotiabank with a tie for the highest overall score in the 2016 Canadian Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark for the 2^nd year in a row. This was only one of several honours that Scotiabank has received in recent months for digital innovation. For example, Scotiabank was named the "Best Consumer Digital Bank in North America" by Global Finance magazine and was the only Canadian bank to be recognized in the final round of Global Finance's "Best Digital Banks of 2015". Scotiabank also tied for first place in 8 of 13 Ipsos "Best Banking Awards 2015" among the Big 5 Banks, including the "Branch Service Excellence" award.

About Scotiabank

Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. We are dedicated to helping our 23 million customers become better off 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 more than 88,000 employees and assets of $907 billion (as at July 31, 2016), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York Exchanges (NYSE: BNS). Scotiabank distributes the Bank's media releases using CNW. For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

For media enquiries only:

Heather Armstrong
Public, Corporate and Government Affairs
Scotiabank
(416) 933-3250
heather.armstrong@scotiabank.com