Bank of Nova Scotia at National Bank Financial Services Conference (Virtual) Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Dan, I want to start off with the revenue story in Canadian banking, and there's been more of a negative trend there in the industry and for Scotia. Can you give me a -- I mean like list off, what are the 3 biggest issues that have been weighing on your top line over the past year and more importantly, how they're, in some cases, improving.

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And there's a couple of issues in there or topics we'll dovetail into. One, on the consumer side of things, and credit cards are an obvious area of discussion these days. But for Scotia, in particular, your auto business, both whether it's the consumer auto, but also the core financing business. Like where is that business in terms of its momentum today? I know there's been an inventory issue for floor plan, and then there's been maybe some demand like inventory for consumer as well, just to buy cards. Is it getting better now? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 24, 2021 / 2:20PM, BNS.TO - Bank of Nova Scotia at National Bank Financial Services Conference (Virtual)

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : So you're expecting -- I mean, I know a lot of banks have talked about positive revenue growth in the second half in the Canadian bank. So you're also anticipating positive balance growth in -- mortgage is growing, obviously, but cards and autos as well.

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : You did -- and you also mentioned in your initial answer, the commercial business and winning market share. You were one of the few banks in the first quarter to have sequential growth in commercial balances. And historically, I mean, that's kind of -- I mean, it's still early, of course, but commercial usually takes a lot longer to recover than consumer. What's the explanation there ? Stuff that you're doing, stuff that you're seeing in the marketplace? Are there signs that utilization rates are going to be moving higher?

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : The -- you mentioned the professional segment as one of the commercial loan growth drivers that your -- makes me think of MD Management, obviously, something that big acquisition a couple of years ago, but we kind of forgot to ask about updates on that. Where is the -- where -- what's the growth picture there, growth story there? And what's the experience been over the past year, I think only MD would give you some special insight on the doctors and medical professionals in what was a very interesting time for them. What are they doing with their finances, I guess.

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Well, mortgage, we kind of -- that's the only one that's growing right now, the headline grabbing asset class. Your outlook for mortgage growth, I think most banks are saying high single digits this year is I mean positive growth or robust growth, whatever adjective you want to use for 2022. If we kind of take a look at year out, is that potentially facing a big drop off if we don't see a migration coming back to Canada? Because that's been the story behind the mortgage market growth for decades or more.

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : We are into over time, but I think we're okay with that. A couple of more minutes. I do want to ask about expenses. The story over the past year has been tightening up, belt tightening, all that stuff. And then in Scotia's case, you've had negative expense growth over the past 3 quarters. Is that something that you can maintain or plan to maintain, more importantly, given that we're in a recovery phase, we're hearing more about investments that need to be made or restarted or whatever to make sure that you're not left behind when the rebound really does start to materialize. So maybe give us an outlook for how you're managing expenses in the next year or 2.

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Okay. And then just one last one. We got regulatory issues brewing there. B20 is going to get revised. I mean, I don't know if there's much to say there yet, but I am thinking more broadly, any regulatory areas that are top of mind for you or -- and an alternative, we have a speaker earlier talk about how they're restructuring, how they charge overdraft fees and stuff like that and some of their deposit products. Are you looking at how you're charging fees to your customers with an eye to potential shifts in the regulatory wins.

Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Well, I think that's a good way to end this abridged call. I guess I apologize again for the technical difficulties, but that's life sometimes. Dan, I really appreciate you coming on and answering the questions and giving some thorough perspectives on a bunch of different topics. And I'd like to have a good remainder of the day with all your other meetings. Thank you.