Canada-based financial services firm Scotiabank and investment firm QED Investors joined forces yesterday to set up a venture capital platform that will nurture Latin American fintech startups.
Scotiabank and QED Investors did not disclose the size of their respective commitments to the vehicle.
While QED will manage the fund, Scotiabank will work with its partner to evaluate potential strategic investments in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru, and will provide funding, resources and a customer base in these markets.
Ignacio Deschamps, group head of international banking and digital transformation at Scotiabank, said QED Investors’ “experience and deep understanding of customer trends, fintech business models and digital disruption will help us bring leading edge best practices in innovation to our customers”.
Deschamps added: “With QED’s hands-on fintech experience, we will be uniquely positioned to partner…the emerging ecosystem of fintechs in Latin America.”
As part of Scotiabank’s digital strategy to strengthen the bank’s tech and customer experience capabilities, the company invested in fintechs such as Kabbage, an online provider of small business financing, in October 2015.
The bank hired Shawn Rose, former group chief product officer at financial planning app developer Moneysupermarket.com and a 20-year veteran of the fintech sector, as executive vice president of digital banking in June this year.